7月17日，在湖南长沙举行的2026年全国乒乓球锦标赛（双打）混双1/8淘汰赛中，王楚钦（北京八喜男一队）/孙颖莎（河北女一队）3比0战胜对手林高远（广东男一队）/刘炜珊（天津729女队），晋级八强。
A local train driver receivs a notebook from his Chinese predecessor at the Adama station in Adama City, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)The global perception landscape is changing. For decades, the United States occupied a dominant position in international public opinion. The latest Pew Research Center survey, however, points to a notable turning point: for the first time in more than two decades, China is viewed more favorably than the United States across a larger number of countries.
What explains China's growing appeal?
For many developing countries, China offers a practical development partnership centered on infrastructure, investment, industrialization, technology transfer and trade. Rather than prescribing a single pathway to modernization, it has generally emphasized allowing countries to pursue development in line with their national priorities.
One reason China's influence has grown is that its development model is highly visible. From Ethiopia's railways to Pakistan's power plants, Chinese-financed projects address everyday development challenges by improving transport, energy security and connectivity. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has mobilized nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars in infrastructure investment, producing projects that citizens can see, use and associate with economic progress.
The distinction lies not only in the scale of investment but also in the evolving priorities of development cooperation. While many Western partners have increasingly emphasized economic security, strategic de-risking, private-sector mobilization and governance reform, China has combined large-scale investment in physical infrastructure with technology transfer, industrial cooperation and human capital development.
At the same time, China has actively promoted trade by expanding market access, including granting zero-tariff treatment to many least-developed countries, deepening currency-swap arrangements, and encouraging the use of local currencies in cross-border trade. Together, these measures seek to strengthen economic connectivity, reduce transaction costs and exchange-rate risks, and create new opportunities for developing countries to integrate into regional and global value chains.
A container truck, transporting the first batch of imports under China's expanded zero-tariff treatment to 53 African nations, enters Shenzhenwan Port in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, May 1, 2026. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
This integrated approach has produced tangible improvements in productivity, connectivity and local capacity, reinforcing perceptions of China as a long-term development partner.
Equally important is the philosophy underpinning China's engagement. Beijing consistently emphasizes sovereignty, mutual respect and non-interference, maintaining that every country should determine its own political and development path. For many governments across the Global South, this approach is a partnership based on equality rather than political conditionality, allowing them greater policy space to pursue domestic development priorities.
Diplomatic style has also influenced perceptions. Through mechanisms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and regular engagement with Pacific Island countries, China has committed itself to equality and shared development. For many governments in the Global South, that sense of respect and recognition is not merely symbolic -- it contributes to long-term political trust.
Perhaps the most important nuance is this: the Global South is not becoming anti-American; it is becoming strategically pragmatic. Its foreign policy decisions are increasingly guided by national interests, economic opportunity, and development priorities rather than Cold War-style geopolitical alignment.
The Global South's primary ambition is neither ideological nor geopolitical -- it is developmental. Governments want to create jobs, eliminate poverty, modernize infrastructure, strengthen industrial capacity and improve the quality of life for their citizens. China's transformation over the past four decades, from lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty to becoming a global leader in infrastructure, manufacturing and technology, has demonstrated what sustained long-term planning can achieve. Consequently, many developing countries are looking to China not as a model to replicate wholesale, but as a development partner from which they can learn, cooperate and pursue shared prosperity while preserving their own policy autonomy.
This contrast is also reflected in broader policy priorities. At a time when many Western governments are increasingly emphasizing tariffs, export controls, technology restrictions, sanctions and economic security, China has continued to promote infrastructure investment, trade, industrial cooperation, technology partnerships, open-source AI initiatives and greater access to its domestic market. Whether one agrees with either approach or not, many developing countries evaluate partnerships primarily through the lens of economic development and tangible outcomes. That difference in emphasis is helping reshape global perceptions.
A staff member arranges exhibits at the booth of Nigeria during the 9th China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 25, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)
The world is changing, and the transition toward a more multipolar international order is becoming increasingly evident. The Global South is no longer a passive participant in world affairs. Its countries are exercising greater strategic autonomy, making decisions according to their own national interests, development priorities and the aspirations of their people. In China, developing countries have found a true friend and good partner.
Editor's note: Maya Majueran serves as the director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, an independent and pioneering organization with strong expertise in Belt and Road Initiative advice and support.
。首局林高远/刘炜珊打得非常积极，也有发球的直接得分，3-1领先。但王楚钦/孙颖莎的调整非常快，通过落点限制，迅速追到4平。维持6平之后，王楚钦/孙颖莎的衔接非常完美，8-6拉开分差。
B | 接下来一鼓作气，11-6拿下了首局。
C | 而局末之所以拉开分差，一方面是默契好速度快，还有一方面是状态打出来了，展现前三板杀伤力。
D | 第二局林高远/刘炜珊连续发抢没有打上，即便是来到衔接段，也对不上，这让王楚钦/孙颖莎开局轰出4-0领先。而且王楚钦/孙颖莎局中凭借出色的状态，能迅速拉开到7-1领先。此时王楚钦连续反手得分，王楚钦/孙颖莎还出现失误，连丢3分。幸好孙颖莎正手爆冲，8-4止住颓势。局末王楚钦/孙颖莎依然可以连续得分，11-4再下一局。第三局王楚钦/孙颖莎还是可以压制对手，开局3-0打停对面。暂停回来，王楚钦/孙颖莎不管是落点还是质量都非常高，将比分扩大到了8-0领先。
E | 即便连续丢了2分，还是可以重新保持比分优势，最终11-2横扫对手晋级到了8强。这场比赛难度依然不大，开局有点慢热，不过局末找到状态之后可以一波带走比赛。后两局基本上都是全局压制，这就是双方实力的差距。别忘了，对面还是刚配的组合。
