China's endeavor to promote coexistence of civilizations has helped the country gain a rising influence in the Global South, said a Malaysian scholar.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) aired on Saturday, Peter Chang Thiam Chai, a research associate at the Malaysia-China Friendship Association in Kuala Lumpur, compared China and the United States in terms of influence, involvement and effectiveness in the developing world.
Chang said U.S. economic influence is diminishing in the Global South.
"America has somewhat lagged behind in terms of its own economic commitment in the Global South. And now, China is taking the lead. And increasingly the Global South, [which] once upon a time was very connected to America in terms of its economic development, is now turning towards China in terms of its own economic growth. In that regard, we see that diminishing of the U.S. soft power in the economic domain in the developing world. And we see a rising China's influence in the Global South," said the scholar.
He applauded China's efforts to promote coexistence of civilizations, as expounded by the Global Civilization Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping.
"One of the prevailing Western world view is a clash of civilizations. There was this dominant narrative that 'the world civilization is more likely to meet in inevitable conflict rather than in coexistence.' So, Xi Jinping's Global Civilization Initiative is a counter point to the narrative. He poses this possibility, the potential in which civilizations could actually coexist. We could build trust, build confidence between the world's religions, cultures and peoples, and we could transcend the differences that we have and build on the common ground that we share to work together for the common good. And he frames it in terms of a community of shared future for humankind. And unless we can build trust between peoples, the pursuit for security and peace that we long for may not be sustainable," Chang said.
President Xi put forward the Global Civilization Initiative in March 2023, following the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative.
It advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations, the common values of humanity, the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations, as well as robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.
Malaysian scholar lauds China's advocacy for coexistence of civilizations
