September 10th, 2021
Leaders of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) joined on line in the 13th
annual summit on September 9th 2021. On its 15th anniversary, has the largest bloc of
emerging economies lost its lustre? Would the confrontation between India and China
crack the future of BRICS? Prof. Dr. Tang Zhimin, director of CASPIM, shares his
observation in an interview by Xinhua News Agency:
BRICS has all of its five members in 2010, when South Africa joined in. The world
economic landscape changed a lot in the decade. BRICS grew as a group, accounting for
24% of the world economy in 2020, compared with 18% in 2010 (see table below). The
increase in share however mostly come from China. Its share in world GDP almost
doubled from 9.1% to 17.4%. Within BRICS, economies of some members such as Brazil
and Russia actually shrank in nominal terms in the decade. China’s share in BRICS also
jumped from 50% to 71%.
From the very beginning, BRICS did not signify a formal or informal alliance as there are
multiple economic, territorial, and political disputes between the five governments. The
recent case is the confrontation between India and China: there were series of border
skirmishes from 2020 to 2021. India dropped out of the RCEP negotiation where China is
a member and actively participated the military operations of Quad together with USA,
Japan and Australia, widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and
military power. Never the less, BRICS may still proved to be an useful platform for India to
adjust its relationship with its giant neighbor where necessary. The cut-off economically
with China may proved to be impractical, as China replaced USA becoming the largest
trade partner of India again in 2020. As the long time leader of Non-Aligned Movement,
India also needs BRICS to balance its attachment with the Western Powers.
At this moment, supporting multilateralism and participating global governance may be
the common agenda for BRICS members. Hot regional issues such as anti terrorism in
Afghanistan may also be examined in the summit, paralleled to the platform of SCO
(Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), where Russia, India, and China are also members.
