By – Lawal Sale
Amid global economic storms, GlobalSouth countries bear the brunt of the economic squeeze, a fact crystallized in a recent World Bank finding: By the end of 2025, nearly all advanced economies had seen per capita incomes rise above 2019 levels, while about one in four developing economies remained below pre-pandemic income levels.
As a result, more developing countries are increasingly calling for fairer participation in economic globalization.
In December 2024, President XiJinping held a meeting with the leaders of major international economic organizations, during which he reaffirmed China’s commitment to collaborative global progress: “China is ready to work with the major international economic organizations to practice multilateralism, promote international cooperation and support the development of Global South countries so as to advance an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and build a just world of common development.”
The expansion of trade and supply chain cooperation under the upgraded China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 framework and the steady implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area both underscored a growing willingness among emerging economies to seek stability through more coordinated economic engagement.
In Africa alone, China has helped build and upgrade over 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, while rolling out more than 200,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cable, supporting industrialization and regional connectivity.
The Chinese-built Magufuli Bridge across Lake Victoria in Tanzania was inaugurated in June 2025, marking another landmark project under the Belt and Road Initiative. As the longest bridge in East and Central Africa, it not only improves local transportation but also enhances connectivity with neighboring countries.
“China has offered additional development options for Global South countries. This engagement complements existing international efforts and contributes to a more diversified and balanced global economic system,” said Ismael Buchanan, senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Rwanda. (GSF)
