With Chinese leaders busy fighting financial fires and broader economic malaise, nobody talks about other developing countries learning from China anymore. But the world’s second-largest economy still has valuable insights to offer to those equipped with the appropriate historical perspective.
WASHINGTON, DC – Only a few years ago, at the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) 19th National Congress in 2017, President Xi Jinping declared that “socialism with Chinese characteristics … [is] blazing a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernization.” At the time, many countries across the Global South seemed eager to learn China’s formula for success, but the United States saw such emulation as a threat to the democratic West’s soft power. Six years later, the eastward shift in geopolitical power seems to have reversed.
WASHINGTON, DC – Only a few years ago, at the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) 19th National Congress in 2017, President Xi Jinping declared that “socialism with Chinese characteristics … [is] blazing a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernization.” At the time, many countries across the Global South seemed eager to learn China’s formula for success, but the United States saw such emulation as a threat to the democratic West’s soft power. Six years later, the eastward shift in geopolitical power seems to have reversed.