The Rise of the Global South and China’s Role

The Global South is a collective term for emerging market economies and developing countries. In recent years, Global South nations have developed rapidly, with their combined economic output accounting for over 40% of the world economy, and their comprehensive strength and international influence have markedly increased. The collective rise of the Global South is not only reshaping the world economic landscape but also profoundly influencing the direction of human civilization. China is a steadfast member of the Global South and has always been a backbone force in promoting the development and revitalization of the Global South. To gain an in-depth understanding of the reasons for and significance of the rise of the Global South, as well as China’s role within it, our journalist Zhao Dingqi conducted an exclusive interview with Indian-American scholar Vijay Prashad, and translated and compiled the content of this interview.

全球南方是新兴市场国家和发展中国家的集合体。近年来，全球南方国家发展迅速，其经济总量占世界经济的比重已超过40%，综合实力和国际影响力显著提升。全球南方的群体性崛起不仅重塑着世界经济版图，而且深刻影响着人类文明的发展方向。中国是全球南方的坚定一员，始终是推动全球南方发展振兴的中坚力量。为深入了解全球南方崛起的原因、意义及中国在其中扮演的角色，本刊记者赵丁琪对印度裔美国学者维杰·普拉萨德(Vijay Prashad)进行了专访，并翻译、整理了本次访谈的内容。

Vijay Prashad (born 1967) is an Indian-American scholar, a PhD graduate of the University of Chicago, Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, and Chief Reporter for *Globetrotter*. Prashad has published over 30 works, representative among which include *On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle*, *The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South*, and *The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World*.

维杰·普拉萨德(1967— ),印度裔美国学者，芝加哥大学博士，三大洲社会研究所(Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research)执行董事、《环球漫游者》(Globetrotter)首席记者。普拉萨德目前已出版30余部著作，其中代表性作品包括《论古巴：七十年革命和斗争的反思》(On Cuba:Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle)、《贫穷国家：全球南方可能的历史》(The Poorer Nations:A Possible History of the Global South)、《暗黑国度：第三世界人民的历史》(The Darker Nations:A People's History of the Third World)等。

I. India’s Social Contradictions and the Communist Movement

一、印度的社会矛盾与共产主义运动

○ (Zhao Dingqi, hereafter the same) How did you grow into a Marxist? What do you think is the practical significance of Marxism in the 21st century?

○(赵丁琪，下同)您是如何成长为一名马克思主义者的?您认为马克思主义在21世纪有何现实意义?

● (Vijay Prashad, hereafter the same) I grew up in Kolkata and northern India. As a youth, the poverty in the cities and countryside deeply affected me. The grotesque inequalities in life, and the ubiquitous feudal social relations—especially the social hierarchy under the caste system—filled me with disgust. My parents taught me to be upright and behave properly, but in such an unjust society, these values seemed difficult to sustain. I felt anger toward the world. When I began to participate in small-scale struggles and read Marx’s works, I realized that anger was necessary but far from sufficient. I needed to join an organization, needed a theory of social change. This drove me to delve into academic research, to explore the roots of inequality in Indian society (my doctoral dissertation focused on the social history of oppressed caste groups), and also spurred me to throw myself into the struggle for social change, so I joined the leftist movement.

●(维杰·普拉萨德，下同)我在印度加尔各答和印度北部长大。年少时，城市和乡村的贫困现象深深影响了我。生活中那些怪诞的不平等现象，以及无处不在的封建式社会关系(尤其是种姓制度下的社会等级制度),让我深感厌恶。父母教导我要为人正直、行为得体，但在如此不公正的社会中，这样的价值观似乎难以维系。我对这个世界感到愤怒。当我开始参与一些小型斗争并阅读马克思的著作时，我意识到，愤怒是必要的，但远远不够。我需要加入一个组织，需要一种社会变革的理论。这促使我深入进行学术研究，探究印度社会不平等的根源(我的博士学位论文就是围绕受压迫种姓群体的社会历史展开的),同时也促使我投身到推动社会变革的斗争中，于是我参加了左翼运动。

Marxism is a continuously developing science, the most accurate critique of capitalism. As long as capitalism exists, Marxism will necessarily exist—unless a theory of capitalist critique deeper and clearer than Marxism emerges. When Marx published *Capital* in 1867, he pointed out that the exploitation of the working class produces surplus value, and it is this surplus value that enables capital to accumulate in the hands of capitalists, while workers become increasingly impoverished amid capital accumulation. Competition among capitalists then leads to overproduction and systemic crises for society. To date, no better theory of capitalist critique than Marxism has emerged.

马克思主义是一门不断发展的科学，是对资本主义最准确的批判。只要资本主义依然存在，马克思主义就必然存在——除非出现一种比马克思主义更深刻、更清晰的资本主义批判理论。马克思在1867年发表《资本论》时就指出，对工人阶级的剥削产生了剩余价值，正是这些剩余价值使资本积累到资本家手中，但工人在资本积累中日益陷入贫困。资本家之间的竞争则导致了生产过剩与社会整体性的危机。目前为止，还没有出现比马克思主义更好的资本主义批判理论。

○ In recent decades, Indian society has experienced rapid economic development. But under the capitalist system, the various contradictions in Indian society are very sharp. What are the main social conflicts India currently faces? What social oppressions are the Indian people enduring?

○近几十年来，印度社会经历了快速的经济发展。但在资本主义制度下，印度社会的各种矛盾十分尖锐。印度目前面临的主要社会冲突有哪些?印度人民正面临哪些社会压迫?

● The rapid growth of the Indian economy is partly because, after national independence, long-suppressed social demands began to be released. At the same time, lagging infrastructure became an urgent problem to solve—although this problem has not been completely resolved to this day, it did contribute to economic growth. But it must be said that this growth is uneven. The main economic problem India faces is that the state has failed to implement effective land reform, making it difficult to achieve social equality in rural areas. The deep-rootedness of social inequality—especially the stubborn persistence of the caste system—means that traditional relations of subordination still exist, and this inequality intensifies as the wealthy stratum of society increases its wealth. Therefore, although the Indian economy has grown, this growth is extremely uneven and unequal. This has led to enormous social unrest, which the Indian bourgeois government attempts to suppress through violent means (including legal means that label dissidents as “anti-national,” violent means of harshly suppressing social protests, etc.).

●印度经济之所以能够实现快速增长，部分原因在于，国家独立后，长期被压抑的社会需求开始得到释放。同时，基础设施的滞后成为亟须解决的问题——尽管至今这一问题仍未得到彻底解决，但它确实为经济增长贡献了力量。但需说明的是这种增长是不均衡的。印度面临的主要经济问题是，国家未能实施有效的土地改革，导致农村地区难以实现社会平等。社会不平等的根深蒂固——尤其是种姓制度的顽固存在，意味着传统的从属关系依然存在，这种不平等随着社会富裕阶层财富的增加而日益加剧。因此，尽管印度经济实现了增长，但这种增长是极不均衡和不平等的。这导致了巨大的社会动荡，而印度的资产阶级政府试图通过暴力手段(包括将持不同政见者定性为“反国家”的法律手段、严厉镇压社会抗议的暴力手段等)来压制这种动荡。

○ What is the current state of the communist movement in India? What are the main Marxist parties and organizations?

○当前，印度的共产主义运动发展状况如何?主要有哪些马克思主义政党和组织?

● Due to the weakness of trade union movements in manufacturing and services, as well as the sluggishness of rural agricultural workers’ movements, the current communist movement in India is still in a low ebb. In the neoliberal era, the fragmentation of society and the workplace has led to a low level of organization among the working class, both urban and rural. The weakening of working-class power has also led to the weakening of leftist forces. The Indian communist movement is mainly composed of three parties: the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). These parties are legal and play a certain role in national and state-level parliaments. In addition, there is the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), mainly active in rural areas. The total number of people covered by these parties reaches hundreds of millions, but it is currently insufficient to push forward some key agendas.

●由于制造业和服务业工会运动的不振以及农村农业工人运动的低迷，当前印度的共产主义运动仍处于低潮期。在新自由主义时代，社会和工作场所的分裂导致无论是城市还是农村的工人阶级组织化程度都较低。工人阶级力量的削弱也导致了左翼力量的削弱。印度共产主义运动主要由三个政党构成：印度共产党(马克思主义)、印度共产党和印度共产党(马克思列宁主义)。这些政党是合法的，在国家和省级议会中发挥着一定的作用。此外，还有被禁止的印度共产党(毛主义),主要在农村地区活动。这些政党覆盖的总人数达到数亿，但目前尚不足以推动一些关键性的议程。

II. The Rise of the Global South and the Belt and Road Initiative

二、全球南方的崛起与“一带一路”倡议

○ When was the concept of the “Global South” first proposed? How do you understand this concept? What does it mean in the present era?

○“全球南方”这一概念是何时提出的?您如何理解这一概念?它在当下意味着什么?

● The term “Global South” first attracted widespread international attention in the 1980 Brandt Commission report. In that report, the word “South” referred to countries mired in poverty, while “North” referred to the former colonialist countries. Subsequently, the South Commission provided a deeper elaboration of this concept in 1989. The commission was chaired by former Tanzanian President Julius Kambarage Nyerere, and its members included Qian Jiadong, the former foreign affairs secretary of former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. [1]1 Qian Jiadong (1924–2014) was a Chinese diplomat who served as an aide to Premier Zhou Enlai and later as China’s ambassador to several countries. The South Commission (1987–1990) was an independent body of eminent persons from developing countries, chaired by Julius Nyerere, tasked with analyzing the problems of the South and proposing strategies for self-reliant development. The purpose of the South Commission’s discussion of this concept was to promote the formulation of development agendas suited to the specific national conditions of developing countries. The commission studied the remarkable development achievements of China’s Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and proposed a development agenda. This agenda emphasized that the dependent status of developing countries was not immutable; through technology transfer and the rational use of domestic resources, developing countries could also achieve breakthroughs. Compared with the old modernization development agenda, this concept was undoubtedly more advanced and forward-looking.

●“全球南方”这一术语首次引起国际社会的广泛关注是在1980年勃兰特委员会的报告中。报告中，“南方”一词指代那些深陷贫困的国家，而“北方”则指代那些前殖民主义国家。随后，南方委员会在1989年对这一概念进行了更深入的阐释。该委员会由坦桑尼亚前总统朱利叶斯·坎巴拉吉·尼雷尔(Julius Kambarage Nyerere)担任主席，成员包括中国国务院前总理周恩来的外事秘书钱嘉东。南方委员会讨论这一概念的目的，在于推动发展中国家制定符合自身国情的发展议程。委员会研究了中国深圳经济特区取得的显著发展成果，并提出了一个发展议程。该议程强调发展中国家的依附性地位并非不可改变的，通过技术转移和合理利用国内资源，发展中国家同样能够实现突破。这一理念相较于旧有的现代化发展议程，无疑具有更为先进的前瞻性。

○ In your 2014 book *The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South*, you proposed that the term “Global South” should not merely refer to geographical space, but rather to a series of protest movements against neoliberalism. Why do you think so?

○在您2014年出版的《贫穷国家：全球南方可能的历史》一书中，您提出“全球南方”这一术语不应仅仅指地理空间，而应指一系列针对新自由主义的抗议活动。您为何这样认为?

●Around 2010, a series of protests erupted across the Global South against the debt-austerity mechanisms imposed by the International Monetary Fund. At that time, no way out of this predicament seemed to exist. These protests themselves appeared to become a hallmark of the post-financial-crisis era. However, a striking shift subsequently emerged, which I have mentioned in my writings but have not yet theorized. That is the rise of a more confident South, which I later termed “the new mood of the Global South.” The founding of the BRICS nations marked this shift, but equally important was the continuous refinement of a new development theory and the establishment of new financial and multilateral development institutions (including the New Development Bank of the BRICS, founded in 2014). These initiatives signified that Global South countries were moving from an era of protest to an era of construction. Whether the new architecture can begin to replace the IMF’s debt-austerity mechanisms is the question of our era. We stand at the crossroads of this dilemma. Whether the IMF’s debt-austerity mechanisms will continue to prevail, or whether a new development theory and a new development architecture will be established, we still cannot predict accurately.

●在2010年左右，全球南方地区爆发了一系列针对国际货币基金组织推行的债务紧缩机制的抗议活动。当时似乎找不到解决这一困境的出路。这些抗议活动本身似乎成为后金融危机时代的标志。然而，随后出现了一个引人注目的转变，我在著作中已经提及，但尚未将其理论化。那就是一个更加自信的南方的崛起，我后来将其称为“全球南方的新情绪”。金砖国家的成立标志着这一转变，但同样重要的是持续完善一种新的发展理论，并建立新的金融和多边开发机构(包括2014年成立的金砖国家新开发银行)。这些举措标志着全球南方国家从一个抗议的时代迈向了一个建设的时代。新的架构能否开始取代国际货币基金组织的债务紧缩机制，这是我们这个时代面临的问题。我们正站在这一困境的十字路口。未来到底是国际货币基金组织的债务紧缩机制继续占据上风，还是新的发展理论和新的发展架构得到确立，我们现在仍然无法准确预测。

○After the end of the Second World War, although colonialism withdrew from the historical stage, the exploitation and oppression of the Global South by imperialist countries persisted, giving rise to neocolonialism. What are the manifestations of neocolonialism?

○第二次世界大战结束后，尽管殖民主义退出了历史舞台，但帝国主义国家对全球南方的剥削和压迫依然存在，形成了新殖民主义。新殖民主义有哪些表现?

●“Neocolonialism” is a concept coined in 1965 by Kwame Nkrumah, the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana. It refers to a situation where countries have gained political sovereignty but cannot control their own economies. This inability to control occurs because these countries depend on overseas borrowing for almost everything (even public finances) and are forced to allow foreign companies to extract their resources, since the state itself lacks capital, technology, or expertise. This lack of financial and technological strength makes these countries prey for their former colonial metropoles. In the present era, for many countries, the basic framework of neocolonialism persists and is further exacerbated by the endless spiral of debt. This makes development impossible. This is the structure of contemporary neocolonialism. It is this structure that gave rise to dependency theory, articulated by Andre Gunder Frank as “the development of underdevelopment.”

●“新殖民主义”是首任加纳总理及加纳总统夸梅·恩克鲁玛(Kwame Nkrumah)在1965年提出的概念，指的是一些国家虽然获得了政治主权，但无法控制自己的经济。这种无法控制的情况之所以发生，是因为这些国家几乎所有事务(甚至公共财政)都需要依赖海外借贷，而且不得不允许外国公司开采自己的资源，因为国家本身既没有资本，也没有技术或专业知识。这种缺乏金融和科技实力的状况使这些国家成为前殖民宗主国的猎物。在当今时代，对于许多国家来说，新殖民主义的基本框架依然存在，并且由于债务永无止境地螺旋式上升而进一步加剧。这使得发展变得不可能。这就是当代新殖民主义的结构。正是这种结构催生了依附理论，安德烈·冈德·弗兰克(Andre Gunder Frank)将其表述为“不发达的发展”。

○In one of your speeches, you mentioned “the self-reproduction of colonial structures and institutions.” How does this “self-reproduction” occur?

○您曾经在一次演讲中提到“殖民结构和制度的自我复制”。这种“自我复制”是如何进行的?

●Workers in many former colonial countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America can now only earn wages of “inferior people.” We are told that people in these countries have very low cultural levels, so they can be paid very little to dig copper ore, iron ore, and various natural resources out of the ground, just giving them a little water, some onions or flour, or a cheap smartphone—as if these people do not need to enter the modern world and can forever exist at a low stage of human civilization. This is a repugnant idea. To some extent, the entire structure of capitalism is built upon these workers forced to accept low wages. This is a colonial structure that recurs generation after generation. Although these countries are nominally independent, their economies remain trapped in the colonial structure. They have to borrow money from the IMF, and the IMF says we can lend you money, but on the condition that you weaken your own healthcare system, cut education subsidies, pension subsidies, and so on. This is the reproduction of the colonial structure.

●亚非拉很多前殖民地国家的工人，现在只能挣到“低等人”的工资。我们被告知，这些国家的人们文化水平很低，所以可以付很少的钱就可以让他们把铜矿石、铁矿石和各种自然资源从地里挖出来，只需要给他们一点水、一些洋葱或面粉，或者一部廉价的智能手机——就好像这些人不需要进入现代世界，可以一直生存在低级阶段的人类文明中一样，这是一种令人厌恶的想法。在某种程度上，资本主义的整个体制都架构在这些被迫拿着低工资的工人身上。这是一代又一代反复出现的殖民结构。尽管这些国家名义上实现了独立，但它们的经济依然保持在殖民结构中。它们不得不向国际货币基金组织借钱，国际货币基金组织会说我们可以借钱给你们，但前提是你们必须削弱自身的医疗体系，必须削减教育补贴、养老金补贴，等等。这就是殖民结构的再现。

But countries like China have not been trapped by this; they have forged their own path. China’s escape from Western oppression today is not solely due to its unique cultural traditions; a more important reason is the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution led by the Communist Party of China in 1949 and the founding of the People’s Republic of China. When Mao Zedong said “the Chinese people have stood up,” a new spirit was born on the foundation of fine traditional Chinese culture, and this is a very powerful force. China refused to accept neocolonialism; China wanted to independently realize its own industrial and agricultural modernization, improve the living standards of its people, and provide them with all services such as healthcare and education.

但是，像中国这样的国家并没有受困于此，它走出了自己的道路。中国今天摆脱了西方的压迫，并不仅仅是因为中国独特的文化传统，更重要的原因是1949年中国共产党领导新民主主义革命取得伟大胜利并成立中华人民共和国。当毛泽东说“中国人民从此站起来了”的时候，一种新的精神在中华优秀传统文化的基础上诞生了，这是很强大的力量。中国拒绝接受新殖民主义，中国要独立自主地实现自己的工业和农业现代化，提高本国人民的生活水平，向他们提供医疗、教育等一切服务。

○In recent years, the rapid rise of the Global South, represented by China, will have what impact on the global order?

○近年来，以中国为代表的全球南方迅速崛起，这将对全球秩序产生什么样的影响?

●The South Commission once specifically discussed several “locomotive” countries of the Global South, hoping that these countries, with advantages in population and land size, could achieve rapid development and lead other countries to join the ranks of development. To some extent, this vision has been realized. China has successfully broken free from the shackles of the “dependent” state. Benefiting from the socialist revolution and construction of the Mao era, the People’s Republic of China nurtured a population with high levels of education and good health. Domestic savings combined with foreign investment within a government-managed financial system, along with the transfer of funds and technology and the introduction of scientific knowledge, jointly drove the country’s industrialization process and the overall improvement of productive forces. Other countries, such as Vietnam, have adopted similar but relatively moderate socialist development strategies and achieved rapid economic growth. China’s rise has not only inspired other countries, such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, but has also helped them escape the dependency trap from which it was difficult to extricate themselves. It is precisely because of China’s influence that Indonesia was able to ban the export of unprocessed nickel to promote its own industrialization; it is also because of China’s rise that the bright prospect of industrialization has once again appeared on the African continent.

●南方委员会曾专门探讨了全球南方的几个“火车头”国家，期望这些在人口和土地规模上具有优势的国家能够实现快速发展，并引领其他国家加入发展的行列。从某种程度上讲，这一愿景已经实现。中国成功地摆脱了“依附”状态的束缚。中华人民共和国得益于毛泽东时代的社会主义革命和建设，孕育了一个教育程度高、健康状况良好的群体。国内储蓄与外国投资在政府管理的金融体系中相结合，资金与技术的转移和科学知识的引进共同推动了国家的工业化进程和整体生产力的提升。越南等其他国家也采取了类似的、但相对温和的社会主义发展策略，实现了经济的高速增长。中国的崛起不仅激励了其他国家，如印度尼西亚和孟加拉国，而且帮助它们摆脱了难以自拔的依附困境。正是由于中国的影响力，印度尼西亚得以禁止未加工镍的出口，以促进本国的工业化进程；也正是因为中国的崛起，工业化的光明前景再次在非洲大陆上显现。

○How do you understand the significance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative for the Global South?

○您如何理解中国的“一带一路”倡议对全球南方的意义?

●The Belt and Road Initiative—initially proposed in 2013—is closely related to the Chinese government’s efforts after the 2008 international financial crisis to reduce its dependence on the US and European markets. China gradually realized that Northern markets would not always remain open to countries like China. To open up new markets, China not only had to continue advancing its Western Development Strategy and extend it to Central Asia, but also committed to building infrastructure in the Global South to promote more harmonious economic cooperation with these regions. From 2013 to 2024, China’s total investment in the Belt and Road Initiative reached $1.175 trillion, encompassing investment, loans, and donations. This figure marks a significant shift in the development agenda. Although some research has been conducted on the Belt and Road Initiative, in-depth holistic studies are still insufficient. I hope more scholars will go deep into Belt and Road project sites, accumulate more empirical experience, and from this explore development theories that adapt to this new phenomenon.

●“一带一路”倡议——最初于2013年提出——与中国政府在2008年国际金融危机后努力摆脱对美国和欧洲市场的依赖紧密相关。中国逐渐认识到，北方市场不会永远对中国等国家开放。为了开拓新市场，中国不仅要继续推进西部大开发战略，并将其扩展至中亚，还致力于在全球南方建设基础设施，以促进与这些地区的经济合作更加和谐。自2013年至2024年，中国对“一带一路”倡议的总投入达到1.175万亿美元，涵盖投资、贷款和捐赠。这一数字标志着发展议程的重大转变。尽管对“一带一路”倡议已进行一定程度的研究，但对其整体性的深入研究尚显不足。我期望更多的学者能够深入“一带一路”项目现场，积累更多的实证经验，并从中探索出适应这一新现象的发展理论。

○You mentioned that to understand Chinese-path modernization, we should not forget the three years 1949, 1978, and 2013. Why do you think so?

○您提到，要理解中国式现代化，我们不应忘记1949年、1978年和2013年这三个年份。您为何这样认为?

●The first key year is 1949. When discussing a country’s history, we sometimes focus on specific periods or events while neglecting the continuity of historical experience. For contemporary China, the great decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978 to implement reform and opening up was undoubtedly a turning point with far-reaching influence. However, this focus sometimes fails to fully recognize the significant achievements of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the subsequent socialist revolution and construction under Mao Zedong’s leadership. Without land reform, the reshaping of social relations, the establishment of financial and production management institutions, and the accumulation from early industrialization, the economic reforms after 1978 would have been difficult to succeed. Therefore, 1949 is a key year that cannot be overlooked in China’s transformation process.

●第一个关键年份是1949年。在探讨一个国家的历史时，我们有时会侧重于特定的时期或事件，而忽略了历史经验的连贯性。对于当代中国而言，1978年中国共产党的十一届三中全会作出实行改革开放的伟大抉择无疑是一个转折点，具有深远影响。然而，这种关注有时可能没有充分认识到，1949年中华人民共和国成立以及随后毛泽东领导下的社会主义革命和建设所取得的重大成就。没有土地改革、社会关系的重塑、金融和生产管理机构的建立，以及早期工业化的积累，1978年之后的经济改革便难以取得成功。因此，1949年是中国转型历程中不可忽视的关键年份。

The second important year is 1978. Because at that time people recognized that if social productive forces were not raised, China’s economy would stagnate, it would be unable to meet the people’s needs, and it would be unable to play an internationalist role on the world stage. Therefore, China permitted foreign capital and technology to enter—provided they conformed to the strategic planning of China’s socialist construction. This entry of technology and foreign funds enabled China to liberate and develop its social productive forces and to become one of the world’s most powerful economic engines. This is the second important year, linked to reform and opening up.

第二个重要年份是1978年。因为当时人们认识到，如果不提高社会生产力，中国经济就会停滞不前，就无法满足人民的需求，也无法在世界舞台上发挥国际主义作用。因此，中国允许外国资本和技术进入——只要它们符合中国社会主义建设的战略规划。这种技术和外国资金的进入使中国能够解放和发展其社会生产力，并成为世界上最强大的经济引擎之一。这是第二个重要年份，与改革开放有关。

The third key year is 2013. At that time two important trends became evident: first, the markets of North America and Europe could no longer absorb the commodities produced by China; second, it was necessary to reduce social inequality as much as possible and to regulate and guide the healthy development of capital. The New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics will be remembered by history as an era in which China shifted from dependence on Northern markets to constructing Southern markets through the Belt and Road Initiative; China accelerated the agenda of social equality and completed the arduous task of eradicating absolute poverty. These reforms, promoted by President Xi Jinping, were precisely marked by the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. This is the third important year. We will wait and see what other landmark years will emerge in the future.

第三个关键年份是2013年。当时有两个重要趋势变得显而易见：一是北美和欧洲市场无法再吸纳中国生产的商品；二是必须尽可能地减少社会不平等现象，并规范和引导资本健康发展。中国特色社会主义新时代将被历史铭记为这样一个时代：中国通过“一带一路”倡议，从依赖北方市场转向构建南方市场；中国加速推进了社会平等议程，并完成了消除绝对贫困的艰巨任务。这些由习近平主席推动的改革，正是以2013年提出“一带一路”倡议为标志的。这是第三个重要年份。我们将拭目以待，未来还将出现哪些具有里程碑意义的年份。

○ You once mentioned that one characteristic of the Communist Party of China’s leadership of socialist construction is its “experimental” nature. Why do you say that?

○您曾提到中国共产党领导社会主义建设的特点之一是其“实验性”。您为什么这样说?

● All socialist practices of the 20th century occurred in economically relatively backward countries. This realistic background determined that countries undertaking socialist revolution and construction must carry out some “experimental” explorations: they must both promote the development of social productive forces and maintain a certain degree of social equality, while simultaneously constructing an advanced socialist culture. To achieve this goal, flexible and diverse measures are needed. For example, at certain times, private enterprises may be permitted to exist in different forms, but they must be restricted. Socialist construction cannot follow old conventions; it must dare to try new methods. Taking China as an example, regarding China as a wealthy country is merely an unrealistic fantasy; China’s development experience is a typical representative of developing countries. Since the 19th century, China suffered long-term imperialist oppression and only in 2021 declared that it had completed the arduous task of eradicating absolute poverty. Therefore, socialist construction requires continuous exploration and trying different development paths—this is the attitude that socialism should adopt. The “experimental” nature of socialism is manifested in the use of pragmatic mechanisms to promote the progress of human society, which requires us to maintain flexibility and openness and avoid rigid action. When one method does not work, we should adjust the strategy in a timely manner and try other approaches. In the process of exploration, an open mindset must be upheld, but the premise is to ensure that policies can enhance the people’s well-being while not destroying the natural environment, always maintaining harmony between humanity and nature.

●20世纪所有的社会主义实践均发生在经济相对落后的国家。这种现实背景决定了进行社会主义革命和建设的国家必须进行一些“实验性”的探索：既要推动社会生产力发展，又要维护一定程度的社会平等，同时构建社会主义先进文化。为实现这一目标，需要采取灵活多样的措施。例如，在某些时候，允许私营企业以不同形式存在，但必须对其加以限制。社会主义建设不能因循守旧，必须勇于尝试新方法。以中国为例，将中国视为富裕国家只是一种不切实际的幻想，中国的发展经验是发展中国家的典型代表。19世纪以来，中国长期遭受帝国主义压迫，直至2021年才宣告中国完成了消除绝对贫困的艰巨任务。因此，社会主义建设需要不断探索，尝试不同的发展路径，这便是社会主义所应秉持的态度。社会主义的“实验性”就体现在运用务实的机制推动人类社会进步，这就要求我们保持灵活性和开放性，避免僵化行事。当一种方法行不通时，应及时调整策略，尝试其他的方式。在探索过程中，需秉持开放心态，但前提是确保政策能够增进人民福祉，同时不破坏自然环境，始终保持人与自然和谐共生。

III. Trump’s Return to the White House and Its Challenges for Global South Countries

三、特朗普重返白宫及其对全球南方国家的挑战

○ In January 2025, Trump returned to the White House, beginning his second term. What impact will this have on the Global South?

○2025年1月特朗普重返白宫，开启他的第二次执政时期。这将对全球南方产生什么影响?

● Trump has abandoned the imperialist “idealism” that the United States has pursued for 35 years and reintroduced Henry Kissinger-style right-wing realism into U.S. foreign policy. We must be aware of this shift. The U.S. government no longer fantasizes about shaping the world in its own image. In my view, the United States will adopt a more practical agenda, namely prioritizing the use of its power to advance its own national interests and controlling the world by maintaining the status quo, rather than trying to transform it into some idealized form. This is clearly not progress. The structure of U.S. imperialist hegemony has not changed, but the means it employs will change. The United States will continue to use force, but its purpose will be to defend its own national interests, not the interests of the global bourgeoisie. At present, we do not yet know how the bourgeoisie of the Global South will respond to these changes. It is likely that they have not yet realized that the United States will no longer defend their interests but will instead strive for maximum benefits for its own national bourgeoisie. Will this weaken the Global South bourgeoisie’s belief in economic globalization? In other words, will a patriotic bourgeois stratum emerge in the Global South? At present, we cannot yet answer this question. Of course, if the bourgeoisie of the Global South can recognize its own class interests, then this situation will sooner or later occur.

●特朗普摒弃了美国35年来奉行的帝国主义“理想主义”,重新引入了亨利·基辛格式的右翼现实主义到美国的外交政策中。我们必须意识到这一转变。美国政府不再幻想能够按照自己的形象塑造世界。在我看来，美国将采取一个更为实际的议程，即优先利用其力量推动实现本国利益，并通过维持现状来控制世界，而不是试图将其转变为某种理想化的形态。这显然不是进步。美国的帝国主义霸权结构并没有发生变化，但其采取的手段将有所改变。美国将继续使用武力手段，但其目的是维护本国利益，而非全球资产阶级的利益。目前，我们尚不清楚全球南方的资产阶级将如何应对这些变化。很可能他们还未意识到，美国将不再捍卫他们的利益，而是会为本国资产阶级争取最大利益。这是否会削弱全球南方资产阶级对经济全球化的信仰?换句话说，全球南方是否会出现一个爱国的资产阶级阶层?目前我们还无法给出答案。当然，如果全球南方的资产阶级能够认识到自己的阶级利益，那么这种情况迟早会发生。

Trump is not an ally of the Global South. He will pursue the imperialist line as forcefully as possible. His advisors, especially Elbridge Colby at the Department of Defense, have already made it clear that preventing China’s economic and technological development is their top priority, and this obstruction will extend to other rapidly developing countries in the Global South. The efforts of Global South countries to fight for their own sovereignty will be attacked by the Trump administration. The only interests they defend are those of the U.S. bourgeoisie, and they will use force to ensure this. Any illusion that Trump has a fundamental commitment to imperialism has already been shattered on the issue of Gaza.

特朗普并非全球南方的盟友。他会尽其可能强硬地推行帝国主义路线。他的顾问，特别是国防部的埃尔布里奇·科尔比(Elbridge Colby),已经明确表示，阻止中国的经济和技术发展是其首要任务，并且这一阻挠将扩展至全球南方的其他快速发展的国家。全球南方国家争取自身主权的努力将遭到特朗普政府的打击。他们所维护的唯一利益是美国资产阶级的利益，并将动用武力来确保这一点。任何关于特朗普对帝国主义有根本性承诺的幻想，已在加沙问题上被彻底粉碎。

○ How should the Global South respond to the challenges posed by right-wing populists like Trump in the West?

○对于特朗普等西方右翼民粹主义所带来的挑战，全球南方应如何应对?

● The Global South must remain vigilant and organize itself to defend its national sovereignty and the dignity of its people. We need to strengthen organizational capacity, for example by establishing more regional organizations and institutions to promote South-South trade and cooperation. It is worth recalling a passage at the end of the South Commission report *The Challenge to the South* (1989): “The Global South as a whole possesses sufficient markets, technology, and financial resources to make South-South cooperation an effective means of broadening its options for economic development. Strengthening South-South cooperation must become an important component of the South’s strategy for self-reliant development. Southern countries must enhance their own capacity to sustain a rapid pace of growth—even when the economic engines of the Northern countries are operating at low speed.” With the impact of Trump’s tariff policies on the U.S. working class (reducing their annual consumption by at least $2,500), the U.S. market will no longer be a market for Southern countries. South-South cooperation will have to be strengthened. But the quality of this cooperation needs to be improved. It must maintain a harmonious state so that every country—no matter how small or poor—can benefit from development, rather than be destroyed by it.

●全球南方必须保持警惕并组织起来，以捍卫其国家主权和人民的尊严。我们需要加强组织能力，例如通过建立更多的区域组织和机构，以促进南南贸易与合作。值得回顾的是南方委员会报告《南方的挑战》(1989年)结尾处的一段话：“全球南方作为一个整体，拥有足够的市场、技术和金融资源，足以使南南合作成为拓宽其经济发展选择的有效手段。加强南南合作必须成为南方国家实现自力更生发展战略的重要组成部分。南方国家必须提升自身能力，以维持快速增长的步伐——甚至当北方国家的经济引擎处于低速运转状态时。”随着特朗普的关税政策对美国工人阶级所造成的冲击(使其年消费至少减少2500美元),美国市场将不再是南方国家的市场。南南合作将不得不加强。但这种合作的质量有待提升。它必须维持和谐的状态，以便每个国家——无论多么弱小、多么贫穷——都能从发展中受益，而不是被发展所摧毁。

(Zhao Dingqi is an assistant researcher at the Institute of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（赵丁琪系中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院助理研究员）

Online editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑