China Focus: From observers to pace

BOAO,张家界永定街道新闻网 Hainan, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Amid rising global uncertainty and a shifting economic landscape, the Global South is emerging as a more active force in shaping global economic governance, as calls for greater solidarity and reform of the existing mechanisms grew at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026.

"The Global South is no longer a passive bystander. We are becoming the active architects of the new world order," said Sardor Umurzakov, advisor to the president of Uzbekistan on strategic development, during the BFA annual conference that concluded in south China's Hainan Province on Friday.

By contributing up to 80 percent of global growth, the Global South has already become the primary driver of the world economy, according to Umurzakov.

Speaking at a panel discussion, Umurzakov identified key challenges, including income inequality, limited access to technology, the consequences of climate change, and geopolitical turbulence.

He called on Global South countries to focus their efforts and cooperate on developing human and social capital, green transition, climate agenda, and security and stability.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former prime minister of Pakistan, has also emphasized the need for greater Global South cooperation to jointly address climate and energy security issues.

With the world facing multiple pressures from intensifying conflicts and rising unilateralism, multilateral mechanisms, including the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, are under severe strain, Abbasi said.

Many participants noted the persistent lack of voices of developing nations within the international architecture, stressing the need for reforms to ensure that the existing global governance mechanisms better reflect current realities.

"We need to reform and improve the international political, economic and financial order, to make the orders and the rules fairer and more accommodating to the developing world and Global South countries," said Xu Bu, former president of the China Institute of International Studies.

Sohail Khan, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), echoed the calls for inclusive reforms in world multilateral bodies so that the Global South can gain a stronger voice in setting global economic rules.

Khan spoke highly about the Global Governance Initiative proposed by China, which he said voiced support for multilateralism, equal governance, equitable voice, and equitable representation.

The China-proposed initiatives, including the Global Governance Initiative, are "a very positive sign" that China wants to work with the rest of the world to improve the current system, which will benefit the world, said Kishore Mahbubani, a renowned scholar at the National University of Singapore.

Beyond reforms, speakers at the Boao forum suggested making full use of existing mechanisms, such as BRICS and the SCO. They also pointed to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a vital platform for fostering regional cooperation and development.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, president of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, said the Global South has demonstrated robust dynamism across cooperation platforms such as the New Development Bank and the BRI.

She particularly praised the BRI as "a very compelling case," which has delivered tangible benefits in more than 150 countries. It is not a physical corridor, but a corridor "of trust, of friendship, and of new forms of plurilateralism," she said.

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