US foreign policy is torn between president-elect Donald Trump’s transactional nationalism and the establishment’s fixation with global primacy. To achieve a more inclusive and equitable world order, the Global South must strategically counterbalance these contrasting American tendencies.
This year, Malaysia will chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), under the theme of “inclusivity and sustainability”. The new year also marks Malaysia’s entry into the Brics grouping as a partner country, alongside Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.
Malaysia is also scheduled to host the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council summit with a notable invitation extended to Chinese President Xi Jinping. These developments underscore a broader movement – the Global South’s continued pursuit of a more representative and just global order and an alternative to the prevailing Western-centric international framework. […]
In response, Asean and the developing world must resist the pull of economic nationalism, stay committed to free trade and counter Trump’s drive towards deglobalisation. Unity will be vital – strengthening collective readiness to address climate change and future pandemics is essential for the Global South’s resilience and progress, regardless of US leadership. […]
Trump’s recent suggestion that the US and China could jointly address global crises has reignited discussions around the G2 concept of shared power. However, Beijing has shown little interest in this idea. Xi’s vision of a “community of shared future for humankind” emphasises inclusivity and multilateralism, rejecting the notion of global governance dominated by a duopoly. Läs artikel