China is practicing true multilateralism
In Beijing, some two hundred diplomats, scholars, and institutional representatives gathered this week to mark seventy years of continuous relations between China and the nations of Africa and the Arab world — a milestone largely unnoticed in Western capitals but treated by its participants as a civilizational argument. The occasion was less a commemoration than a declaration: that the Global South, representing more than half of humanity, is quietly assembling a shared grammar of development, sovereignty, and multipolarity. At a moment when older international orders feel strained, these partnerships are being offered as evidence that a different kind of cooperation — one built on infrastructure, zero-tariff access, and mutual governance lessons rather than conditionality — has already proven its staying power across seven decades.
- China's Vice-Foreign Minister opened the symposium by naming the threat directly: hegemonic powers are reasserting themselves, and the international landscape is fracturing in ways that demand coordinated response from the Global South.
- African Union and Arab League representatives pushed back against the abstraction, grounding their praise in specifics — zero-tariff policies effective since May 1st, ten partnership action plans, and physical infrastructure ranging from hospitals to desalination plants.
- Beneath the diplomatic language ran a sharper current: speakers argued that Western-led multilateralism has systematically underrepresented African and Arab voices, and that closer China-Africa-Arab coordination in global institutions is a strategic correction, not merely a courtesy.
- Scholars and educators widened the frame beyond trade — invoking translation projects, academic exchanges, and the sheer demographic weight of a coalition exceeding half the world's population as sources of collective leverage.
- The symposium's forward gaze landed on artificial intelligence and green development, signaling that these partnerships are being repositioned from resource extraction toward capacity-building and technological self-reliance.
On a Wednesday in Beijing, roughly two hundred people convened to mark something the Western press has largely overlooked: seventy unbroken years of diplomatic relations between China and the nations of Africa and the Arab world. The gathering was less a celebration than a coordinated statement — about how these partners intend to move through a world they described, repeatedly, as turbulent and uncertain.
Vice-Foreign Minister Miao Deyu set the tone by naming the problem in geopolitical terms. Hegemonic powers are reasserting themselves, he said, and the response must be threefold: forge consensus around shared values, exchange governance lessons, and align development strategies. The phrase he reached for — 'a community with a shared future for humanity' — has become a signature of Beijing's diplomatic vocabulary, but here it was spoken among partners who seemed to receive it as a practical program rather than a slogan.
The African Union's permanent representative to China, Alhaji Mohamed Sarjoh Bah, moved quickly to the concrete. China had implemented a zero-tariff policy for all diplomatically recognized African nations as of May 1st. Ten partnership action plans had been endorsed to advance modernization across the continent. His sharpest point, though, was about what he called 'true multilateralism' — a form of cooperation he distinguished from Western models by its absence of conditionality.
Ahmed Mustafa Fahmy of the Arab League made a parallel argument through infrastructure: the China-Arab relationship, he said, is not abstract. It is factories, hospitals, smart cities, and desalination plants — tools that Arab governments can deploy according to their own strategies, without external governance requirements attached.
Running beneath the formal speeches was a concern about voice. Wang Guangda of the China-Arab Research Center argued that these three blocs need to coordinate more effectively in multilateral institutions — to understand each other's priorities and advocate collectively. The Global South, the implication ran, has long been underrepresented in the rooms where global rules are made.
Liu Hongwu of Zhejiang Normal University introduced a cultural dimension: young people across China, Africa, and the Arab world are eager to learn about one another, and translation projects and academic partnerships carry as much weight as trade agreements. He also cited a demographic fact with geopolitical implications — together, these nations account for more than half the world's population, a scale that confers leverage when exercised in concert.
The symposium's closing emphasis fell on artificial intelligence and green development, signaling that the partnership's next chapter is oriented toward technological capacity and self-reliant growth rather than resource dependency. Whether the model can deliver on its promises of mutual benefit remains genuinely open. But the seventy-year marker is being used to argue that the relationship has already demonstrated its durability — and that the decades ahead will only deepen it.
In a Beijing conference room on Wednesday, about two hundred people gathered to mark a milestone that few in the Western press have noticed: seven decades of continuous diplomatic relations between China and the nations of Africa and the Arab world. The event was not a celebration of the past so much as a statement about the future—a coordinated message from Beijing and its partners about how they intend to navigate a world that feels increasingly fractured.
Vice-Foreign Minister Miao Deyu opened the proceedings by framing the moment in explicitly geopolitical terms. The international landscape, he said, is turbulent and uncertain. Hegemonic powers are reasserting themselves. In response, China and its African and Arab partners need to do three things: forge consensus around shared values, exchange lessons learned from their own governance experiences, and align their development strategies. He positioned these relationships as a model for what he called "a community with a shared future for humanity"—language that has become central to Beijing's diplomatic vocabulary.
The representatives who spoke next were not there to offer platitudes. Alhaji Mohamed Sarjoh Bah, the African Union's permanent representative to China, pointed to concrete policy shifts. China had just implemented a zero-tariff policy for all African nations with which it maintains diplomatic relations, effective as of May 1st. The AU had also endorsed ten partnership action plans designed to advance modernization across the continent. But Bah's most pointed comment concerned what he called "true multilateralism." He was signaling that China, in his view, practices a form of international cooperation that differs fundamentally from the Western model—one based on mutual benefit rather than conditionality.
Ahmed Mustafa Fahmy, representing the League of Arab States, made a similar argument but grounded it in infrastructure. The cooperation between China and Arab nations, he said, is not abstract. It consists of factories, hospitals, smart cities, desalination plants—projects that directly serve the development needs of Arab governments and their citizens. These are not loans with strings attached or aid programs designed to reshape governance. They are tools that Arab states can use to implement their own strategies.
The symposium also surfaced a concern that runs beneath much of this diplomatic activity: the question of voice and power in global institutions. Wang Guangda, secretary-general of the China-Arab Research Center on Reform and Development, argued that China, Africa, and the Arab states need to coordinate more effectively on the multilateral stage—to understand each other's priorities and to advocate collectively for their interests. The implication was clear: the Global South has been underrepresented in international decision-making, and these relationships are partly about correcting that imbalance.
Liu Hongwu, dean of the Institute of Africa Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, introduced a different dimension: the cultural and educational exchange. Young people in China, Africa, and the Arab world, he noted, are hungry to learn about each other. Translation projects, academic partnerships, and people-to-people contact matter as much as trade deals. He also invoked a demographic fact that carries geopolitical weight: China, Africa, and the Arab nations together represent more than half the world's population. That scale, he suggested, gives them leverage if they act in concert.
The symposium's emphasis on emerging technologies—artificial intelligence, green development—signals where these partnerships are heading. This is not about extracting resources or maintaining dependency. It is about building capacity for self-reliant growth, in the language used by the attendees. The message to the Global South is that China offers a model of development that does not require abandoning sovereignty or accepting external governance conditions. Whether that model proves sustainable, and whether it can deliver on its promises of mutual benefit, remains an open question. But the 70-year marker is being used to suggest that the relationship has already proven its durability, and that the next seven decades will deepen it further.
Citações Notáveis
We must forge consensus on shared ideals, strengthen the exchange of governance experiences, and better synergize our development visions to jointly chart new prospects for modernization.— Vice-Foreign Minister Miao Deyu
Our cooperation is way more than figures on paper, as it involves tangible and visible projects, such as factories, hospitals, smart cities and desalination plants.— Ahmed Mustafa Fahmy, League of Arab States representative
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does China need to emphasize this relationship now, in 2026? What's changed?
The international system feels more contested than it did even five years ago. China is signaling that it has alternatives to Western-dominated institutions, and that the Global South has options too. The zero-tariff policy and the infrastructure projects are proof of that.
But isn't this just competition for influence? China wants allies, Africa and Arab states want investment. That's not new.
It's not new, but the framing is different. China is explicitly positioning itself as practicing a different kind of multilateralism—one based on non-interference and mutual benefit rather than conditionality. Whether that's true in practice is another question, but the message matters.
The symposium mentioned "hegemony" and "turbulence." Who are they talking about?
The United States, implicitly. The idea is that American power is destabilizing, that it imposes conditions on aid and trade, and that China offers an alternative. It's a pitch to countries that feel constrained by Western pressure.
What about the emphasis on young people learning about each other? That seems almost sentimental.
It's not sentimental. It's about building legitimacy for these relationships at a grassroots level. If young people in Africa and China see each other as partners rather than competitors, the political relationships become harder to break.
The symposium mentioned more than half the world's population. Is that a threat or a promise?
Both. It's a promise that if these countries coordinate, they have the numbers to reshape global institutions. It's also a subtle threat to countries that try to isolate China or pressure its partners.
What happens if this coalition actually holds together?
The balance of power in global institutions shifts. The Global South gets more say in how the world is run. Whether that leads to more equitable outcomes or just a different kind of hegemony depends entirely on how these countries use that power.