The year 2024 has witnessed regional turmoil and profound landscape changes. From the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the chaos in the Middle East and the interference of external forces stirring tensions in the South China Sea, China demonstrates composure and confidence amid a turbulent landscape, creating a favorable environment for its high-quality development and injecting valuable stability into a restless world. As a member of the Global South, China is playing an increasingly important role in promoting world development and peace, as well as advancing the rise of the Global South. With 2024 coming to a close, the Global Times (GT) runs a special year-ender series by talking to renowned experts and former diplomats to discuss China’s role and the scenes that shaped the global landscape in the past year.
In the third piece of this series, Global Times (GT) reporter Wang Wenwen interviewed Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Espinosa), president of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly (2018-19) and former minister of foreign affairs of Ecuador, during the 2024 Imperial Springs International Forum in Madrid, Spain in mid-December. Espinosa believes that the rise of the Global South is about diversity, a better power-sharing and a new pathway of development.
GT: The rise and significance of the Global South in world affairs have been discussed a lot this year. What do you think of the rise of the Global South?
Espinosa: I like to use the term Global Majority, because the developing countries are the global majority. We are developing economies. The multipolar world means that the world is more complex, but it’s more diverse – different models of development, different aspirations, different cultures and religions. We have learned that there is no one model of development or one political system in the world. That’s why the UN exists and multilateralism exists. We should celebrate this diversity.
And that’s what the world is about. It is about diversity, about a better power-sharing, in a more open international order. It is about thinking in this alliance of the Global Majority, thinking about a new pathway of development. The BRICS partnership is very important. The African Union has been included in the G20. Some media reports also mentioned the idea of including the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations in the G20. Everything is connected to collective action, to collaboration, solidarity, a better international cooperation, better multilateralism, and preventive diplomacy. It’s good for everybody.
GT: What prompted the resurgence of the awakening of the Global South or Global Majority, the term you prefer?
Espinosa: In all my years of experience, in the multilateral world, there has been always this cooperation, but we cannot hide the fact that sometimes we cannot agree on fundamental things because we are very diverse. But I think that diplomacy and multilateralism continue to be the only option we have, not only to reach agreements, but also to process our differences respectfully. I strongly believe that diplomacy is more needed than ever. Developing countries have to find a common ground to fight poverty and inequalities, fight the climate crisis and live in a safe and peaceful world.
GT: How does the rise of the Global South contribute to a more just and fairer global order?
Espinosa: The global governance structures that we need to develop have to represent the diversity, and different voices should agree on a common agenda, such as on issues of financing, development, climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer. These are critical issues for the developing countries. We have huge challenges to combat, for example, organized crime in Latin America, my region, is one of the critical issues.
There is a need to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation with industrialized countries, where we learn from each other. I have seen success stories happening in many parts of the world. I have also witnessed massive poverty reduction in countries like China. We have seen how renewable energies are projected into the near future to create a carbon-neutral economy. This is the area where China and Latin America can cooperate.
GT: In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited two Latin American countries of Peru and Brazil. How does this visit inject momentum to China-Latin America ties?
Espinosa: It’s very important to strengthen the partnerships. Having been a foreign minister and a former minister of defense myself, I really appreciate and value it when leaders from other regions, in this particular case from China, visit our part of the world, because at the end of the day, we are one humanity and one community. And we have the same needs and the same challenges.
I can speak for my own country, but I’m sure that other countries in Latin America highly value the joint work and the partnership with China on critical issues such as new technologies, infrastructure and renewable energy. These are partnerships that are win-win, able to strengthen the sense of interdependence and collective action, and can help build a global community and tackle inequalities, poverty, the climate crisis, and the security crisis.
GT: China has been advocating multilateralism and collective actions. As the world heads into 2025, how should the world engage in collective actions?
Espinosa: When you think about the security challenges that the world faces, the conflicts that we are experiencing, the environmental crisis, the crisis of poverty and inequalities, all of these challenges require more cooperation in a multilateral system, and that’s what it’s all about in the end.
The security of my neighbor affects directly my own security. My wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of others. We live in times of profound interconnectedness and interdependence. And for that, we need a global community that works together. That needs collective action. We have a multilateral system that we created as humanity almost 80 years ago. For that reason, the systems – the United Nations, the multilateral banks, the Bretton Woods institutions – require some revitalization. We need a creative way of governance. We have gone from bipolar world of the past to a new world order where we are emerging political actors with more presence and leadership from different countries.
We need to learn how to navigate and make the best of these power-sharing around the world.
GT: China has proposed several global governance concepts such as the Global Security Initiative and the Global Development Initiative. What is your expectation of China’s role in global governance in 2025?
Espinosa: These global initiatives, I think, are the sign that new forms of cooperation and new forms of multilateralism are emerging. They really mark a new a momentum for humanity to come together. One of the challenges of today is the challenge of poverty and rising inequalities in the right to development of developing countries of the Global South. It is an issue of financial resources to meet, for example, the sustainable development goals to fulfill their climate commitments, but it’s not only about the money. It is about the capacity, about the access to low-carbon technologies. China’s global initiatives to support the development of all countries to work as a single humanity is welcome.
We need to build a world that is free from fear and war. Unfortunately, we live in a world that threatens our security every day. To be in peace is not only the absence of conflict. It is about having the governance, the institutions, the mechanisms among countries, and living in peace with nature. The current environmental crisis is really threatening the wellbeing of people around the world. It’s not a coincidence that China has put so much investment and energy into reducing emissions. China is the first investor in renewable energies around the world. All of these together is to contribute to build a peaceful world. We need a committed partners to work together in building low-carbon economies, and again, China is a very important player.
GT
