Cheng Li
Chinese-American political scientist; professor at the University of Hong Kong and founding director of its Centre on Contemporary China and the World, formerly director of Brookings' John L. Thornton China Center (2014–2023).
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APPEARANCES
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PODCASTS
Oct 21, 2026
Russell FlanneryHOST
Uh, Zheng, maybe you can tell us, uh, from your perspective, what is the Global South, you know, before we start talking about it in, uh, detail? And, uh, you know, from your point of view, how important is it in the world today?
Cheng LiGUEST
Um, geographically, it's obvious, south and north, and economically because, uh, most of, uh, country in south used to be or still poor, and the developments, uh, development, uh, stage.
Cheng LiGUEST
And also historically, uh, most, um, or some of these countries have a colonial past.
Cheng LiGUEST
Now, it's very important to know that, um, China actually, um, uh, rather to, uh, consider is a part of Global South rather than the i- uh, informal narrative, East and the West.
Cheng LiGUEST
So the, the concept of North and South is not ideological as, uh, East and West used to be.
Cheng LiGUEST
And also very, very important to see, uh, what I would call the rebalancing the world with these two concepts.
14 MINS LATER
Russell FlanneryHOST
... which there's, uh- There is some frustration, uh, globally, uh, not only in the South, but, you know, in Europe and across too