Draped in traditional attire and equipped with a device that offers impressive real-time translation, Ashma leads a flock of tourists in and around the spectacular Kunming Stone Forest in the Yunnan Province of southwestern China.
Ashma passionately explains the 270 million year old subtropical plateau and its iconic jagged stone structures were once underwater. Today, the forest is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site and enjoys the highest 5A rating from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Ashma’s name, too, is part of the rich heritage in Yunnan: she shares it with an age-old narrative poem about the struggle between light and darkness. Today, Ashma narrates the stories of Yunnan to the hundreds of international and domestic tourists roaming around the forest at any given minute.
Just 90 kilometers away from the tourist site, a global meeting is underway in the splendid Kunming city, seat of the Yunnan provincial administration. Also known as the Spring City, Kunming is famous for its natural endowments, several UNESCO-registered assets, year-round fair weather, and a bustling hospitality and service scene.
Earlier this month, Kunming played host to around 500 journalists, scholars, government officials, and entrepreneurs from 110 countries and a slew of international and regional organizations. They were in the Spring City for the 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum organized jointly by the Xinhua News Agency and the Yunnan provincial administration.
The Forum brought together media executives, think-tank researchers and policymakers from across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the broader Global South. It aimed to strengthen South-South cooperation in areas such as media content, capacity-building, digital infrastructure, research collaboration, trade and development policy, and public diplomacy.
And while Kunming’s meeting halls, like the Stone Forest, were filled with foreigners, the voices echoing across them expressed not an enthusiasm for all visitors, but spoke of the dangers facing freedom, development, and peace in the Global South as a result of the west’s scramble to maintain the status quo in a unipolar global hegemony.
Forum participants discussed how to unite the Global South, end western hypocrisy, overcome the challenges posed by the global status quo, and reposition their respective nations in a fair and just global governance system.
Journalists, politicians, and scholars all provided their best analysis of current global conditions and forwarded their ideal recommendations under the Forum’s theme: Empowering the Global South, Navigating Global Challenges.
Opening the Forum, Melissa Fleming, UN under-secretary-general for global communications, stressed the importance of truth seeking media, provision of quality information, and exercising the right to freedom of expression and media freedom. She called for joint efforts to enhance global sustainability and intercultural exchanges, restore balance to the global information ecosystem, and incorporate integrity into the online public sphere.
Vincent Meriton, former vice president of Seychelles, spoke passionately about the Global South’s role in development and the obstacles posed by western dominance.
“The Global South is the driver of 21st century development synergy. Peace is the absence of exploitation. Our sovereignty is not for sale. The new world order should be written by us, not by imperialists. We are not a cultural periphery. Practice multilateralism, be clear against hegemony. The Global South is not asking for permission to live,” he stated.
Meriton hailed the China-proposed Global Governance Initiative (GGI) as a champion of the Global South, pushing for a more just and equitable international order. Meriton said that the GGI comes at an “opportune moment” as the world grapples with challenges including widening inequality, prolonged conflicts and climate crises.
Meanwhile, unilateral sanctions and double standards are eroding the credibility and authority of the current global governance system. Speakers at the Forum characterized GGI as a “breath of fresh air” offering “hope and encouragement” to global governance resonating widely among Global South countries.
Several other officials, leading journalists and scholars from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere also spoke on the major challenges facing the Global South. They stressed the need for collaboration to resolve the conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, among others. Addressing climate difficulties, global peace and security, underdevelopment, and many other global crises were also discussed under national, regional and global geopolitics scenarios.
“The Global South is not only a geographical designation; it shares an intertwined fate. Misinformation is going faster than real news. The digital gap between developed and developing nations is widening. The media should defend peace and development. The Global South has been marginalized by historical injustice,” said Hassan Falha, a senior official at the Lebanese Ministry of Information.
Beyond media, the Forum also aimed to foster connections between Global South nations through heritage, culture, art, and other societal values. The latter are considered key to protecting the new generations in the Global South from western propaganda and influence, according to Forum presentation materials.
Accordingly, the Forum concluded that the Global South shares not only footprints from past civilizations, but also its future, which presenters warned can only be secured by weeding out ill-fitting western values.
“As we face similar challenges, the Global South shall rise together. Silence is bad and must be replaced with south-south cooperation; synergy,” said Ambreen Jan, Pakistan’s secretary of information.
While ending western dominance in global governance was a major topic of discussion during the Forum, it also saw repeated calls for reform in global institutions like the UN, international financial agencies, and others in a way that fits and accommodates the emerging voices and interests of the Global South’s development demands.
Speakers at the Forum argued the existing system of global governance largely excludes the voices of the Global South and observed that a change is overdue as the Global South today comprises a huge portion of development contributions, human capital development and global value chains. They want to see the global governance system restructured and reformed to reflect this reality as part of the drive to guarantee equal representation to all.
“The Global South was once colonized. Now, it is rising as the most critical society in global dynamics,” said Ali Mohammed from the Nigerian News Agency.
The Forum urged the media in the Global South to uphold a common goal and prioritize defending the interests of the Global South, truth, and freedom, by expanding its horizon to include not only local issues but also on globalism.
“Global mainstream media is still clinging to a colonial-era mindset. Global fact-checking institutions are crucial. Medias must partner so voices from the Global South are heard everywhere,” said Marat Abulkhatin, a member of the 120-year-old Russian News Agency (TASS), which has a presence in 60 countries.
Zhou Ting, an expert from the University of China’s international relations department, also weighed in.
“Despite its huge weight, the Global South voice remains low. Western media are always disseminating false information, undermining the Global South’s truths. They always narrate as if the Global South’s rise is going to strike the west. The Global South needs countering media power to reverse the west’s false narrative. The Global South must reconnect to the media, think tanks, workshops, people to people, and other platforms,” said Ting.
Elizabeth Brodskaia, an editor for Russia Today (RT), stressed the importance of linguistic ties.
“Western media is diversifying its coverage and languages to those of the Global South. Global South media must do the same to counter the western narrative. This is also important to staying competitive. Our media must open new branches to cover more languages, more societies, and more audiences. This way, the Global South can connect at cultural, information, and many levels. For instance, western media’s coverage of China is always intentionally distorted. They still maintain the colonial-era mentality. The west claims to follow liberalism. But their liberalism is racism, not freedom. China, as well as other Global South nations, has thousands of years of civilization. They don’t need to be told what to do or not by the west,” said Brodskaia.
Marine Nazaryan from ArmenPress made a similar argument.
“Shaping a shared future is a major task of the Global South nations now. The world is at a crossroads of civilization and rapidly changing global geopolitics. The Global South must seize this opportunity. Let’s move practically, beyond conventions and forums. The Global South is marginalized from global decision making. But no single culture built human civilization. The Global South is not a geographical term but a shared vision now,” she said.
Professor Joshua David Eisenman, a political science expert from the University of Notre Dame, also attended the Forum.
“America is no longer promoting democracy. Washington remains interventionist. Many Global South countries are re-evaluating their relationship with Washington. The US teaching freedom is anxiety for Beijing. Trade and technology wars between east and west are rising. Security concerns like the Taiwan case are ticking. The global power structure is showing vacuum as the US retreats, and the Global South’s voice rises. Amidst all challenges, China is asserting soft power through the media. Parallel multilateralism structures like BRICS and FOCAC are also becoming effective platforms for the global south. China is investing in these platforms,” said Eisenman.
A foreign policy scholar and member of the diplomatic community in Ethiopia spoke with The Reporter, reflecting on the Forum and current assessments of global affairs.
“The status quo, the West’s dominance era, is changing. The unipolar system is ending. New global governance must be put in place. The west has run out of world-class technocrats to lead the world. America’s current rulers and foreign policy formulators have become highly self-centered, arrogant and have failed to see global dynamism.”
“They have descended to a ‘one-size fits all’ policy, because they failed to recognize the natural interests of Global South nations like Russia, China, and others. Unless they put themselves in the shoes of the Global South, American policy makers and politicians cannot fully grasp the global dynamism. Very few American policy makers, like Henry Kissinger, were willing to try to understand what the Global South wants. America has a disdain for China, for instance. They think China is all about economy. But China has exceeded America through economic diplomacy, which is transforming into diplomatic, political and security leverages,” said the scholar, who spoke anonymously.
He foresees the global power shift is inevitable.
“The US is losing its global control hegemony. China, India, Russia are forming a strong bloc. They are also lining up other Global South nations behind them. They are even wooing Europe. Trump is saying to Europe and emerging nations ‘you are with us or not.’ Trump is fighting hard to keep Europe in isolation rather than joining the Global South bloc. But Trump is losing heavily; losing American allies fast. He cut off all humanitarian support, including closing USAID. That damaged many connections with its operations in developing countries. Further, Trump launched a trade tariff war. America is even losing Japan due to Trump’s tariff war. It is backfiring on America itself. America is also causing conflicts and chaos around the world. All these measures indicate that America is desperate,” said the scholar.
Amidst all these foreboding signs for America and the collective west, representatives of the Global South, particularly China, are emerging as the ideal alternative to take charge, observes the diplomat.
“Global South nations, especially China, are efficiently utilizing platforms like BRICS, FOCAC and other platforms to organize the Global South. Many developing nations in the Global South are finding Chinese principles and firm development positions better than the wests’ static and mismatching values. The west seems to be preparing to hand over global leadership. Surprisingly, America is not even scanning the silent but fast shifting global governance landscape. The west utilizes language, Hollywood, propaganda, sanctions, and many other tools to control the narratives. The Global South is also doing the same to reverse the status quo. Global South media like Sputnik, Xinhua, CGTN, and others are doing this,” said the scholar.
“The influence of Global South media is not there yet, but they’re trying. South-south cooperation is gaining momentum. The west, particularly the US, has no options left. Hence, the US and Israel are creating chaos and conflict across the world, including in Ukraine, Gaza, and elsewhere. They think that if they can’t tackle the Global South’s rise, they can at least keep it tied down by conflict, instability, and war. The tactic may delay the Global South’s realization, but the coming of a new world order through the influence of the Global South is inevitable.”
He cited Washington’s blind support of Israel’s attacks on Arab nations as an example of weakening ties and waning confidence.
“America has a large military base in Qatar. But Israel pounded Qatar, and the US did not say anything. Egypt is also in fear,” said the scholar.
The 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum wrapped up by underscoring the need to counter the west’s false narration, hypocrisy, and propaganda through cooperation and facts.
Ashma, the tour guide, had a similar message.
“The Stone Forest is like a fact that takes all human beings into a different space-time reality. And reality is the same for all human beings,” she said.
