Within the leadup to the U.S.-China summit in September 2026, President Xi Jinping attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the BRICS summit in Delhi. He additionally visited the Center East — all between August and September. What’s notable is that in speeches delivered at each the SCO and BRICS summits, Xi made heavy use of the time period “International South.” This displays China’s positioning of the SCO and BRICS as gatherings of the International South, regardless that Russia and Turkey are amongst their members. How, exactly, does China perceive and deploy this time period “International South” (全球南方, Quanqiu Nanfang)?
In educational utilization, “International South” initially carried the which means that “South” points exist inside developed nations too, and that the North-South divide shouldn’t be understood in spatially separate phrases; South points are, quite, international in character. From round 2020, nonetheless, the time period started for use in another way in worldwide boards. Particularly, following the warfare in Ukraine, a view unfold — particularly in Western nations — that sharply delineated the superior democracies towards China and Russia, drawing an axis of confrontation between the developed world and China, Russia (plus Iran and North Korea), and treating the remaining nations because the “International South.” China responded to this by turning into very cautious of the time period, viewing “International South” as a Western-originated idea designed to drive a wedge between China and the creating world. China’s self-identification has been as a creating nation —certainly, because the consultant of the creating world. Because of this, it was unwilling to just accept a time period that might separate China from creating nations.
Regardless of this, the time period “International South” grew to become more and more prevalent globally. Particularly, when India hosted the “Voice of International South Summit” on-line on January 12 and 13, 2023, and didn’t invite China, this seems to have come as a big shock to Beijing. But even after the “Voice of International South Summit,” Chinese language criticism of the time period continued. The shift got here within the interval following the enactment of the International Relations Legislation on June 28, 2023. That legislation, in Article 4, requires upholding the 5 rules [of peaceful coexistence], and likewise makes use of the time period “creating nation” (发展中国家) in two locations, reaffirming China’s identification as a creating nation.
From July 2023, International Minister Wang Yi all of a sudden started utilizing the time period “International South” at worldwide conferences, albeit with citation marks round it. On the Assembly of BRICS Nationwide Safety Advisers and Excessive Representatives on Nationwide Safety held in Johannesburg on July 25, when Wang used “International South” in citation marks, International Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning then provided a definition of the time period at a press convention: “The ‘International South’ is the household of rising markets and creating nations.” Wang Yi listed “independence,” “growth,” and “justice” because the defining qualities of the International South, and declared that “China is a pure member of the International South and can at all times be a part of the creating world.” This was a definition of the International South that clearly differed from that utilized in developed nations.
China has provided no rationalization for this shift in strategy. Essentially the most believable interpretation is that, because the time period got here to be broadly used globally — significantly amongst leaders of creating nations — and because the time period’s definition remained unsettled, China made a deliberate coverage shift: to outline the time period itself, by itself phrases, and thereby form international discourse in its favor. This too will be counted as one occasion of China’s pursuit of what it calls “discourse energy.”
Subsequently, not solely Wang however Xi himself started utilizing the time period with citation marks. This signaled that the time period had turn out to be domestically usable inside China as effectively. By the top of 2024, citation marks started to be dropped from “International South” in Chinese language paperwork, and in a bit by Wang revealed in Qiushi in 2025, the citation marks have been additionally absent. There stay, to make sure, some inconsistencies in utilization (cases can nonetheless be present in 2025 the place Chinese language officers used “International South” with citation marks) however these have step by step turn out to be much less frequent, and on the SCO and BRICS conferences in 2026 cited on the outset, Xi Jinping’s use of International South carried no citation marks.
Globally talking, “International South” stays a time period with out an agreed definition, with every actor investing it with its personal which means. China has positioned itself as a member of the International South and has come to behave as its consultant. China defines International South as “the household of rising markets and creating nations” — which quantities to the “non-West.” The competition over this time period “International South” throws into aid the variations in worldview between the developed world and China. The competition over this seemingly easy time period, it seems, is something however.
