An expert said that China is still a developing country that sees imbalanced development across its regions in a CGTN debate show, Talking China live-streamed on Monday.
Liu Zhiqin, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, made the remarks to rebuke claims that the country's sheer size and high levels of gross domestic product (GDP) mean that it cannot be part of the Global South.
"If you go to the western part of China, even the central or southwestern of China, you can see big differences with the first-tier cities," Liu said.
Whether China belongs to the Global South should be answered based on a combination of factors in addition to the GDP figure, said Liu. He stressed both sides' shared history of fighting colonialism and imperialism.
Speaking at the same debate, Li Cheng, founding director of the Center on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong, said China is the second largest economy in the world, and its GDP per capita keeps rising.
"I disagree with the perception that China is very poor, and I don't think the world, whether it be the West or the South, look at China in that light," said Li.
He said countries, in the North or South, should show empathy to each other to promote better mutual understanding.
**Read more:**
[Watch | Talking China: Is Chinese wisdom the key to shaping a better global governance?](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-03-10/Watch-Is-Chinese-wisdom-the-key-for-a-better-global-governance--1BDapGKW7fO/p.html)