The Global Development Initiative, writes the Financial Times, is “China’s blueprint for an alternative world order to challenge that of the U.S.-led West,” it asserts, as the BRICS Summit opens in South Africa. “Ostensibly, the GDI is a Chinese-led multilateral program to promote development, alleviate poverty and improve health in the developing world. But along with two follow-up initiatives also announced by Xi—the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative—it represents China’s boldest move yet to enlist the support of the ‘global south’ to amplify Beijing’s voice on the world stage and build up China’s profile in the UN.”
Evidence? Chatham House, of course: “[Xi Jinping’s initiatives] ‘show China’s clearest intention yet to update the rules of global governance that were written by the collective West in the aftermath of World War II,’ says Yu Jie, senior research fellow at Chatham House….”
The sneaky Chinese are even trying to “ensure that a broad swath of the world remains open to Chinese trade and investment,” while also trying to gain friends at the UN “to project Chinese power and values.”
And would you believe it? They might succeed: “China is throwing in its lot with the largest and fastest-growing part of the world. The 152 countries classified as developing at the UN vastly outstrip their developed counterparts on yardsticks such as population size and population growth, GDP growth rates over the past two decades and overall contribution to global GDP growth as measured by purchasing power parity.”
