Photo taken on Nov. 3, 2025 shows a groundbreaking ceremony for a Chinese-funded green fertilizer project held in Nakuru County, Kenya. (Xinhua/Li Yahui)
China is playing a significant transformational role through large-scale infrastructure cooperation, with a pragmatic approach of non-interference and support that enables other countries to explore development models suited to their own needs, said Kenyan economist James Shikwati.
by Xu Jiatong, Liu Keyi
NAIROBI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's pragmatic, inclusive and development-oriented approach to cooperation offers the Global South viable alternatives to traditional Western models, helping lay the foundation for more autonomous and sustainable growth, said Kenyan economist James Shikwati.
Amid the accelerating rise of the Global South and deepening multipolarity, such an approach is playing a catalytic role in empowering developing nations to move from passive rule-takers to proactive agenda-setters that reshape global governance, Shikwati said in a written interview with Xinhua.
Many developing countries, Shikwati observed, are now diversifying their partnerships through platforms such as BRICS, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China, he said, is playing a significant transformational role through large-scale infrastructure cooperation, with a pragmatic approach of non-interference and support that enables other countries to explore development models suited to their own needs.
Unlike Western aid, which often comes with political strings attached, China offers African nations greater space to make independent strategic choices, providing "a great template of how a country can harness global models without compromising its own identity and strategic national interests," he said.
The BRI, he noted, has demonstrated how developing countries can mobilize funds and bridge infrastructure gaps, and its focus on inter-country connectivity has given landlocked nations more efficient access to seaports, opening new possibilities for trade.
The Global Development Initiative has shifted cooperation from traditional talk shops to result-oriented, project-focused action, providing new models for partnership across the Global South, he said.
As China is about to embark on its 15th Five-Year Plan, Shikwati sees its shift toward high-quality development, technological self-reliance and green transformation as a major turning point that will generate new opportunities for the Global South.
Developing countries could cooperate with China to build and participate in global value chains as China restructures its economy, he added.
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