New Delhi and Beijing mark start of a new era

CHINESE President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 31 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin.

- GIDEON CHITANGA

This meeting, building on their successful dialogue in Kazan in 2024, represents an important moment for China-India relations, bolstering growing optimism within the SCO, and marking a major point in diplomatic relations within the Global South.

Most significantly, the broader events taking place in Beijing shows that half the world’s population are discussing their future without reference to, and diminishing dependence on the West. For the Global South, this means that this community of countries and nations could leverage their growing internal bilateral and multilateral cooperation for international and domestic peace, stability, and development.

The bilateral meeting between China and India coincided with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of enduring diplomatic relations between the two biggest countries in the world by population. China and India hold a collective population of about 2.8 billion people, while Beijing is New Delhi's largest bilateral trade partner. The two major powers of the Global South are also neighbours, sharing a border of about 3 800km.

The meeting also came at a time of heightened global uncertainty, largely fuelled by the unilateral imposition of tariffs on trading partners by the US, and growing calls in the Global South for a greater say in international affairs.

The US tariffs have impacted almost all leading economies across the world, and risk severe consequences for fragile economies in the Global South. All the countries represented at the SCO and many others in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe have to contend with sudden economic unpredictability, uncertainty and negative impacts of unilaterally imposed tariffs, which currently face legal hurdles in the US.

The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and the people of Palestine, have unleashed unprecedented instability, challenging norms and rules governing the conduct of states.