Bigger BRICS building a multipolar world

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Sunday that Malaysia has officially applied to join the greater BRICS grouping. In late May, Thailand’s Cabinet approved a draft application to join the newly expanded BRICS.

If the two key regional players in Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are accepted as members of the grouping, which accepted Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia as new members earlier this year, it will have significant geopolitical ramifications, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Their joining the group will further enlarge the platform, giving it greater representativeness of the Global South.

The total economy of the enlarged BRICS accounts for about 60 percent of that of the G7. The strong appeal the grouping has for emerging market economies and the great potential it has demonstrated to act as a responsible representative of the Global South make it a player on world stage that no party can afford to ignore.

While some in the West tend to increasingly view the swelling BRICS as an anti-West geopolitical tool, particularly against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis and the United States’ China-containment strategy, with Russia and China being members of the organization, they simply turn a blind eye to the fact that grouping is not a military alliance like NATO but largely an economic one that operates following the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality, inclusiveness, consensus and strengthened collaboration.

It is the organization’s openness and fairness, and the shared conviction of its members that the Global South deserves its due say in global affairs and the reform of global governance that have attracted new countries that recognize that the organization can provide them with a platform for strengthened coordination and cooperation to that end.

Unlike the G7, the expanding BRICS group is not a clique pursuing narrow interests. It provides a large space for countries to uphold their strategic autonomy and calls for resolving differences through dialogue and negotiations. Only those holding a zero-sum game Cold War mentality, or those thinking the rise of the Global South threatens to touch their cheese, would try to sow discord between the members of the augmented BRICS, or seek to misinterpret any country’s application to join or display of interest in being an observer in the grouping. In the face of the contest between those countries seeking to build a multipolar world and those upholding the unipolar hegemony, and the clash between economic globalization and “de-globalization” tendencies, the growing BRICS grouping follows the trend of history, stands on the side of fairness and justice, and makes the right choices.

The accession of more countries to the enlarged BRICS can accelerate the process of building a multipolar world, and promote a more just and equitable international order. The organization should always stay committed to its original aspiration of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation to elevate the practical cooperation among its members to new heights.

Apart from pooling efforts to make unique contributions to resolving world hotspot issues, the grouping, in the face of the new technology revolution, should give full play to their strengths in terms of natural resources and market size, strengthen the supporting role of financial and trade cooperation, facilitate energy and food security cooperation, promote innovation cooperation, and act as a bridge for people-to-people and cultural exchanges so as to give meat to the bones of its principles.

Those claiming the expanded BRICS is nothing more than a “symbolic” troupe will have their eyes opened as what they regard as symbolism is materialized into results through down-to-earth actions that deliver real benefits to the people.

Editorial, China Daily