Global South can count on China as old world order crumbles under Trump: analyst

Zheng Yongnian is pessimistic about state of the West, but says the Chinese model of collective development could mean progress for all

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Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus, at the Boao Forum in Hainan province, southern China, on Wednesday. Photo: Handout

Published: 3:00pm, 29 Mar 2025Updated: 5:05pm, 29 Mar 2025

China’s “open-source” approach to development presents a reliable alternative for the Global South as Western dominance wanes and the world order is reshaped, according to a leading Chinese political scientist.

Zheng Yongnian, dean of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s school of public policy in Shenzhen, said that both global orders were crumbling – the Western-led liberal one and the other centred around the United Nations – and states would need to change their strategies.

Zheng made his initial remarks at a group interview session on Wednesday, and expanded on his theme in a panel discussion on Thursday at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province, southern China.

Telling the interview session that the traditional West was effectively broken, Zheng said the deepening rift between the US and its long-term allies would have a “profound impact”.

The following day, he noted that the US and Russia were each building their own sphere of influence, further escalating fragmentation and polarisation. How the war in Ukraine ends – along with a sudden shift in Washington-Moscow ties – could be decisive.

“I believe that modern international law based on the principle of sovereign states may collapse and we could be facing a completely different world,” said Zheng, who described his outlook as “very pessimistic”.