Published: 01:30 AM, 23 November 2025
Relations between China and developing countries are growing fast
The third summit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) held in Beijing in October 2023, which coincided with the tenth anniversary of the launch of the project by China, gathered 23 leaders and delegations from over 130 countries. The event was a reflection of the multipolar order being pushed by the Asian giant, its desire to continue boosting the agency of the Global South, and its interest in leading the challenge to the liberal international order. Under a paradigm of South-South cooperation and in a context of mounting geopolitical competition with the West, chiefly the United States, relations between China and the Global South have grown exponentially since the shift from an ideology-based approach during the Maoist era to one that places trade and investments at the heart of its foreign relations reportedly.
From Zhou Enlai’s role in organizing the 1955 Bandung Conference and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and the crucial Chinese logistical and later military support for Vietnam’s independence struggle against the French, to construction of the Tanzania-Zambia railroad, the PRC in many places earned a reputation as a strong ally and partner for the Third World.
From the colonial era to Cold War coups and proxy conflicts backed by the United States and Soviet Union, the developing world was frequently an arena for competition among rival great powers in the 20th century. However, many countries in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America hold greater agency, increased state capacity, growing populations, and generally positive economic prospects. The societies of the Global South are likely to significantly influence the outcome of the current strategic competition. The emerging views regarding China in the Global South are relevant to understanding many countries’ foreign policies, investment regimes, trade policies, soft power initiatives and approaches to educational or cultural exchanges.
It is not news that China is more popular in the Global South than in the West. But contrary to common assumptions — and previous research — Global Public Opinion on China’s data show the world is by no means neatly divided along North-South lines. As the previous paper in this series noted, on a population basis, the negative-leaning views of India’s 1.4 billion people offset the strongly positive views that prevail in more than 50 countries in Africa. Which regions and countries drive the overall positive view of China, and which cut against the general tendency? What have been the trends over time? How has the COVID pandemic’s legacy played out in the developing world? This GPOC brief offers a closer look at the significant variations in views of China across the Global South.
