China’s President Xi Jinping called for the acceleration of the expansion of the BRICS group on Wednesday, a goal the world’s second-largest economy has long harboured.
Addressing a summit of the bloc’s leaders in South Africa’s commercial capital Johannesburg, Xi said he was glad to see that developing countries had shown great enthusiasm in participating in BRICS and many of them have applied to join.
“We should let more countries join the BRICS family to pool wisdom and efforts to make global governance more just and equitable,” Xi said.
Xi also said the BRICS countries have agreed to launch a study group on artificial intelligence (AI) and further expand cooperation on AI, including by strengthening information exchange and technical cooperation.
The bloc comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its leaders were weighing on Wednesday rules for admitting new members to the grouping.
Opinions differ between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa over accepting new members into the loosely defined club of major emerging economies that are seeking an alternative to the Western-led international order.
South Africa said last month that more than 40 other nations had expressed interest in joining the organisation, which aims to offset the perceived hegemony of the US-led West in global affairs. Of those, 22 had formally asked to join, it said.
Like the BRICS members themselves, these countries represent varying political systems, uneven economic strength, and contrary diplomatic positions, and are as diverse culturally and geographically as Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam, to name a few.
Many are traditionally non-aligned nations, such as Indonesia and Ethiopia, and some are openly hostile to the United States and its allies, such as Iran and Venezuela.
Analysts say China, the most powerful of the BRICS economically, is eager to rapidly grow the club into something of a counterpoint to the G7 group of wealthy democracies.
China has long sought BRICS’ expansion, hoping that broader membership will lend clout to a grouping already home to about 40 per cent of the world’s population and a quarter of the global gross domestic product.
Russia is also keen to expand membership while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa voiced support for the idea at a bilateral meeting with Xi on Tuesday.
But, this desire runs counter to India, the other major power in the BRICS, and an economic and geopolitical rival of China.
New Delhi is wary of the BRICS becoming an organ for Beijing to project its agenda and analysts say this conflicting interest could determine who might be admitted in years to come.
from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/UDNCrel
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