How the Non-Aligned Movement fits in with China's global geopolitical ambitions

China may not be a member of the Non-Aligned Movement but its presence was unmistakable when the group met in the Ugandan capital of Kampala this week for a summit.

Apart from the 70 vehicles Beijing donated to transport attendees, China sent Politburo member and Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong at the head of a delegation to address the more than two dozen heads of state and government at the event.

Liu is also in Kampala for the Third South Summit, which from Saturday brings together G77 countries and China.

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Observers said Beijing's presence at the gatherings reflected the weight it put on the movement's ability to support China's global ambitions amid changing geopolitical dynamics and conflicts around the world.

Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong headed a delegation to the NAM Summit in Kampala. Photo: AFP alt=Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong headed a delegation to the NAM Summit in Kampala. Photo: AFP>

The war in Gaza and the push to reform global political and economic systems dominated speeches at the NAM Summit, a forum of 120 poor or developing countries.

Echoing sentiments from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Cairo last week, the leaders called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where more than 24,000 people have been killed amid fighting in recent months.

In addition, the leaders called for an overhaul of the multilateral global governance architecture to give greater say to the Global South, including permanent seats for developing countries on the United Nations Security Council.

China sees itself as a natural partner of the movement and a member of the Global South.

The ministry said earlier this month that China would "champion an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation".

Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher on African governance and diplomacy at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said that for China the movement's significance was its "ability to shape relationships and policies among other developing countries".

De Carvalho said the similar positions by the two on the Israel-Hamas conflict could bolster China's position in relations to the United States, emphasising perceived double standards in the Western reactions to the war in Palestine.

"Certainly, the similar perspectives of the NAM and China strengthen each other, bolstering efforts toward resolving the conflict and ensuring that the primary responsibility is to protect civilians in the process," he said.

De Carvalho said the NAM could serve as a forum for China to coordinate its foreign policy with these nations.

"With Uganda leading both the NAM and the G77 in 2024 - a group where China is actively engaged - Beijing finds a strategic position to understand and influence the perspectives of the Global South on key international issues," he said.

Sub-Saharan geoeconomic analyst Aly-Khan Satchu said China was operating a very sophisticated, consensus building and subtle foreign policy.

"The Israel-Hamas war is a lightning rod and has split the world," Satchu said. "China can only kick back and watch events unfold. The US has the pistol and is emptying the chamber into its foot.

"Beijing is positioning itself as the leader of a new multipolar order."

In Kampala at the NAM Summit, Dennis Francis, president of the United Nations General Assembly, agreed the movement had a major role to play in "in guiding our world pragmatically".

The movement represented more than half of the global population and its "critical mass" meant it could help shift the geopolitical balance from conflict and confrontation to diplomacy, he said.

Ugandan President and NAM chairman for the next three years Yoweri Museveni also had a multipolar message, taking a swipe at Western nations by saying those countries should not impose "narrow uni-ideological orientation".

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice alleging genocide in Gaza, said the conflict showed the inadequacy of the United Nations, "in particular the UN Security Council, in maintaining international peace and security".

Seifudein Adem, an Ethiopian global affairs professor at Doshi­sha University in Japan, said the overlap between the non-aligned members and China on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was not surprising.

"But it will certainly sharpen the contrast between the new world order led by China, which is slowly but surely coming into being, and the Euro-American world order led by the United States," Adem said.

"The NAM statement has a wider geopolitical significance in that sense.

"The decisions of organisations such as NAM matter to China to the extent that they can sometimes help China to assess its international diplomacy and make adjustments if necessary," Adem said.

John Calabrese, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said Beijing would "ride this wave of pro-Palestinian sentiment, exploit and help fuel the anti-Western discourse related to the conflict".

According to Calabrese, China played a high-profile role at the Bandung Conference of 1955, a meeting that laid the foundations for the Non-Aligned Movement.

Some researchers argued that this conference shaped Communist China's national identity as a member of the Afro-Asian world in solidarity with states and movements seeking to liberate themselves from the shackles of colonial domination.

"China's engagement with the NAM as well as its role in participating in and establishing a slew of multilateral organisations - largely composed of non-Western developing countries - is, in a sense, a rekindling of this effort to challenge US/Western hegemony and help shape a multipolar order," Calabrese said.

Nevertheless, Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics and international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the whole "emerging powers" phenomenon meant that key members of the NAM were gaining their own leverage in global affairs.

"China needs to side with them but powers like Turkey and Indonesia have ambitions of their own," he said.

"But, first, the test of whether any of this can be influential will be in whether the emerging powers can play a key role in persuading Israel to accept Palestine as a recognised state."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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