Global South urged to speak with one voice at Beijing governance forum

A think tank forum with an international guest list

The Global Strategic Dialogue (2026) was held in Beijing on Wednesday under the theme "Unite Global South, Improve Global Governance". It was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and China Daily, and brought together more than 100 leading researchers and experts from countries including China, Russia, France and Austria.

Li Xuesong, vice-president of CASS, noted that China will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in November and will assume the presidency of BRICS next year. Speaking at the opening, he said that by seizing these opportunities, "China will work with various parties to forge consensus, expand cooperation and advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalization".

Li said global governance needs a foundation of genuine multilateralism, better quality and efficiency through sustainable and shared development, and innovative cooperation mechanisms to fix setbacks. He also called for more effort to oppose the politicization and weaponization of economic and trade issues.

Calls for fairer representation and faster governance

Djoomart Otorbaev, a former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, said efforts to reform the international system and global governance remain inadequate and that the Global South should be fairly and appropriately represented in global governance structures. On the shareholder structure and voting rights of the International Monetary Fund, he asked: "Why don't we give the countries of the Global South more voting rights?"

Otorbaev pointed to the Global Governance Initiative, which he said President Xi Jinping proposed at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in September 2025. In his account, the aim is "not to replace the existing (international) system, but to reform it to reflect our world order".

He also raised the pace of technological change. Technologies such as artificial intelligence "are evolving faster than our capacity to govern", he said, adding that "the world is simply changing much faster than the structures meant to guide it".

The role of think tanks and development banks

Xing Zhigang, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, described think tanks in the Global South as key players in knowledge production, policy coordination and discourse shaping. He said they have an irreplaceable role in building collective consensus and optimizing international rules. "The Global South should build on consensus, speak with one voice, and constantly boost its drive to set international agendas," he said.

According to Xing, these think tanks should:

• provide evidence-based policy analysis and research;
• take part in the process of optimizing international rules;
• foster original perspectives while building an independent discourse system;
• support multilateral practices and bridge the gap between concepts and institutional implementation;
• establish platforms for dialogue and foster consensus.

Zou Jiayi, president and chair of the board of directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said the Global South can contribute to reshaping development cooperation. She said more developing countries are becoming active shareholders and donors of multilateral development banks, and that emerging and developing economies are important driving forces behind economic transformation.

Zou said she had visited more than 30 AIIB member economies over the past few months, most of them developing economies, and was encouraged by a consistent message calling for more infrastructure and infrastructure financing. "When trade protectionism is pervasive in some parts of the world, most developing economies continue to embrace openness in trade and investment," she said.

What it signals

The remarks show the themes that speakers want to bring into upcoming international meetings: voting rights in institutions such as the IMF, rules for fast-moving technologies like AI, and financing for infrastructure. The report is a China Daily account of a forum co-hosted by that outlet, so the positions reflect the views of the speakers quoted. The source does not describe any formal agreement or binding commitments coming out of the event.