Sri Lankan experts: China-proposed five principles shape growing Global South

The Global South has long desired an equal and orderly multipolar world, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence put forward by China have shaped the stance and voice of the Global South today, said several Sri Lankan experts.

Looking at the past, Uditha Devapriya, chief international relations analyst at the Sri Lankan foreign policy think-tank Factum, said the five principles emerged when the European colonial powers were fast diminishing and the United States was becoming a big global superpower in the 1950s.

"So it was a very important intervention when there were perceptions about Western countries meddling in the affairs of emerging countries, including China and Sri Lanka," he said.

"Back then, the Global South wanted a multipolar world that promotes a more just and equitable international order and partner country model; that's why countries across the world widely accepted and recognized the five principles," said Maya Majueran, director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka.

Rathindra Kuruwita, a Sri Lankan contributing author for The Diplomat, said the five principles retain significant relevance in today's multipolar world. This is evident as many nations assert their sovereignty and resist external influence, particularly amid increasing assertiveness from the West toward the Global South.

"With initiatives like the Belt and Road, China aims to illustrate these principles by promoting economic cooperation and infrastructure development," said Kuruwita.

Majueran said that the West has historically exerted and continues to exert influence over the global order through its own values and policies, often under the guise of promoting "democracy" and "defending" human rights. This influence includes launching smear campaigns against countries with different political systems and pressuring emerging markets and developing countries to take sides in disputes orchestrated by Western powers.

"The five principles are still a very good corrective to the abusers of world power even today," Devapriya said.

Majueran said the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, along with the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, collectively aim to provide strategic direction for shaping a new world order.