3 Key Trends to Watch for China-Global South Ties in 2025

MAJDI FATHI / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP

Trend-predicting – always a dicey enterprise – feels particularly difficult as the Biden administration dries to a crusty stain, and incoming U.S. President Donald Trump waits in the wings huddled in his signature cloud of white-hot incoherence.

However, tracking a few larger trajectories related to China’s changing global role may help us to navigate heightened geopolitics. Here are three suggestions for places to start, and we welcome your input on how they will turn out and which ones to add.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest news and analysis from Africa, Asia, and across the Global South.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China’s relations across the Global South.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Cobus van Staden

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2
Uncertainty Roils Minerals Markets
3 From J-10C to Kaan? Indonesia’s Fighter Jet Deal With Turkey Shocks Chinese Military Fans
4 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
5 Chinese Scholars See Russia’s Venezuela Strategy as a Model of Hybrid Power Projection in the U.S.’ Backyard
6
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors

You Might Like

With Global Attention Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific Remains a Theater for China-India Rivalry

By Saniya Kulkarni In what has turned out to be the closest election in the history of Sri Lankan politics, left-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake has unseated Ranil Wickremesinghe to become the island ...

There’s Only One Reason That Explains Why Chinese Companies Are Pumping Out so Much Cobalt: Politics

Chinese mining giant CMOC Group, or China Molybdenum, announced this week that it reached its full-year cobalt production target three months ahead of schedule. This would probably have been welcomed as good news ...

A Sweet Surprise? The Reasons Behind China & India’s Thawing Relationship

By Saniya Kulkarni One of the more prominent stories coming out of the BRICS summit last week is the formal bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first ...

The India-Pakistan Crisis and Conflict in a Multipolar World

By Saniya Kulkarni Tensions have escalated rapidly between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Kashmir last week, resulting in the killing of 25 Indian tourists and one local. Indian security ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP

[ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS] Delivery of the daily email newsletter will resume on Monday, January 5th.

Got it!
X