With Global South tour, Xi drums up support ahead of Trump meeting

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is headed to the White House this month, but his state visit is just the final stop in a packed international itinerary.After hosting a string of foreign leaders in Beijing this year – including several from countries allied with the United States – Mr. Xi is now jetting to high-level summits in developing and middle-income countries, collectively known as the Global South, from Central Asia to the Middle East to India.Mr. Xi intends this flurry of overseas travel to underscore his clout when he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump, China experts say. Why We Wrote This Ahead of his visit to Washington this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is touring developing and middle-income countries. The visits are designed to show his clout and win support for Beijing’s agenda. “[Xi’s] underlying message is: ‘We have lots of friends,’” says Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.On a deeper level, Mr. Xi’s travels are a manifestation of his strategy for China to displace the U.S. as the No. 1 superpower and forge a more Sino-centric world order.And Mr. Xi’s choice of destinations is especially telling, given that he has greatly tightened his control over foreign policy in Beijing since taking power in 2012.The main thrust of Mr. Xi’s strategy is “engagement with the Global South to win support for China’s agenda ... for changing the international order,” says Dr. Tsang, co-author of “China’s Global Strategy Under Xi Jinping.”“That’s why he went to Bishkek earlier this week,” he says, referring to the capital of Kyrgyzstan.There, Mr. Xi issued a rallying cry to leaders from about two dozen developing nations – their populations totaling more than 3 billion people – urging them to demand a greater voice in world affairs.The leaders were gathered for a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. A number of world leaders – including Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia – gather for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sept. 1, 2026. Founded as a regional security organization by China, Russia, and Central Asian countries in 2001, the SCO has expanded its membership and scope to include broad development goals.The Global South must rise up against the “historical injustice” that has seen a few countries dominate and bully others, Mr. Xi said, in a thinly veiled reference to the U.S.China, as a “responsible major country,” is joining the developing world to insist upon “democratized” international relations with equal rights, regardless of a nation’s size or wealth, Mr. Xi told the leaders of India, Pakistan, Iran, and other countries.“If you don’t advance, you retreat,” Mr. Xi said, quoting a Tang dynasty (A.D. 618 to 907) idiom drawn from upstream river travelers, who would drift backward if they stopped rowing.From the SCO summit, Mr. Xi flew to the Middle East on Wednesday, where he carried a similar message on a rare visit to Egypt – his first in a decade. In Cairo, he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and called the two countries “close brothers” in a signed letter published in the Egyptian media. As Global South countries, China and Egypt should work together to promote more justice in international relations, he said.As the U.S. war with Iran drags on, raising oil prices worldwide, Mr. Xi’s courting of Egypt, a longtime U.S. security partner, is an effort to exploit possible openings created by instability in the Middle East, experts say. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomes Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Cairo, Sept. 1, 2026. Mr. Xi's visit is part of a tour of Global South countries ahead of an expected meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump later in September. “Mr. Trump is now heavily focusing on the war in Iran; he hasn’t been out of the country very much,” says Wang Xiangwei, an Asia fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. “In a way, this frees up a lot of space for Xi Jinping to showcase China’s influence.”In mid-September, Mr. Xi is expected to travel to India to attend the BRICS summit – another growing Global South organization seen as lobbying for changes to the U.S.-led international order.Formed in 2006, BRICS – Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability – is a grouping of emerging market economies including Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It describes itself as a “platform for Global South solidarity.”Mr. Xi has in the past prioritized attending BRICS meetings over more established gatherings such as the Group of 20, which includes the United States and other advanced economies.The Trump administration’s withdrawal from international organizations and accords, and gutting of its foreign aid program, has, by default, increased positive impressions of China and Mr. Xi, global opinion surveys suggest.“The U.S. perceived dismantling of the international order ... aligns with Xi’s call to reform global governance” says Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington. In Beijing’s narrative, she says, “It’s not just the West calling the shots – the Global South deserves more voice and more authority.”Still, many developing countries are wary of China’s economic dominance and might not embrace Mr. Xi’s Sino-centric vision, she says.In advancing its blueprint for reforming the world order, Beijing might be “taking for granted that a lot of Global South countries share this desire that China will take the lead,” Dr. Sun says.