India and China vie for Global South leadership at UN gatherings

India and China, recently seen moving towards rapprochement after years of strained ties, held separate meetings with Global South countries on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, highlighting a quiet rivalry for leadership of the developing world.

The world’s two most-populous countries had been expected to present a united front as global trade and multilateralism face increasing headwinds under US President Donald Trump’s second term. Instead, their parallel diplomacy shows a persistent competition for influence.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who chaired Beijing’s Global Development Initiative event at the UNGA on Tuesday, urged all countries to work together and called on the developed world to pay greater attention to the needs of developing nations.

He also announced that China would no longer claim the special treatment reserved for developing countries in World Trade Organization negotiations, opening the door for the kind of reforms that Trump and other US leaders have been demanding.

By contrast, India, in what it described as a high-level gathering of “like-minded” Global South countries, emphasised south-south trade and tech cooperation, advocating for diversified supply chains to avoid dependence on any single supplier or market.

New Delhi also continued to position itself as a democratic alternative to China, noting that even multilateralism had presented “a very disappointing prospect” for addressing the challenges of the developing world.