Thriving BRICS answer to bloc politics

The expansion of BRICS grouping from five to 10 member countries has successfully pushed it onto the fast track of becoming a “Greater BRICS” cooperation mechanism. Riding the momentum of deepening Global South solidarity this year, countries from all over Asia and even beyond have applied to join the grouping, indicating the wide recognition of its more prominent role on the world stage and its growing international clout.

With the 16th BRICS summit, which is scheduled to be held in Kazan, Russia, from Oct 22 to 24, drawing near, a number of countries have expressed their desire to join the grouping, demonstrating the mechanism’s growing appeal.

The upcoming summit in Kazan, themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”, will be the first summit after BRICS’ expansion from five to 10 members last year, when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia were admitted at the Johannesburg summit as new BRICS members, effective on Jan 1, although Saudi Arabia is yet to complete the formalities to become a full member.

On Monday, Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath said his country is to place on record its request for membership of BRICS at the upcoming Kazan summit, citing the grouping as an effective partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation, peace and development, and inclusive multilateralism.

It joins Cuba, Syria, Malaysia, Thailand, Belarus and Pakistan in seeking membership of the grouping, as they have all applied to join it. Russia has already confirmed that along with the 10 members more than two dozen other countries that have applied for or are considering membership will participate in this year’s summit. The high number of new applications suggests another expansion of the grouping may be underway.

There are some countries that are less than happy that BRICS should prove so appealing. Japan is one such country that has reportedly expressed concerns over Malaysia and Thailand applying to join BRICS.

Western countries, including Japan, should grasp the fact that the popularity and strong appeal of BRICS is because of the many injustices in the world order today that BRICS is viewed by countries of the Global South as having the potential to change. Exacerbating these in-built injustices in the global governance system, the Western countries have been sparing no effort to create divisions and confrontations among the countries of the Global South in pursuit of selfish gains.

The BRICS mechanism has thrived to become an increasingly important cooperation platform for countries of the Global South because of its spirit of openness, inclusiveness and emphasis on win-win cooperation. Rather than being a means for Beijing and Moscow to exploit some countries’ resentment against the United States and its wealthy allies in service to their efforts to overcome the Western countries’ endeavors to constrain their development, the still-expanding BRICS grouping is simply a natural manifestation of the dissatisfaction with and determination to challenge the structural advantages in the international system that enable the Western countries to enjoy unfair and exorbitant privileges.

But BRICS is not, as Western countries seek to portray, an assault on the global order. Instead, it is a means for the countries of the Global South to pursue measured and incremental changes in the global governance system to shape and build a just and equitable world.

[Abridged]

Editorial, China Daily