“The Brics countries do not come together in a closed club or an exclusive circle, but in a big family”. Thus spoke the Chinese president Xi Jinping at the opening of the fourteenth summit of Brics – an acronym that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on 23 June 2022, the last of the three meetings of the group which were staged only virtually due to the pandemic. Just over a year later, on August 24th, the Brics they officially invited you to join them (from 1 January 2024) six other countries: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran. This is only the “first phase” of the group’s expansion and “others will follow”, said the South African president Cyril Ramaphosahost of the fifteenth Brics summit which was held from 22 to 24 August in Johannesburg.
Beijing’s diplomatic victory
The enlargement of the Brics had long been a declared objective of China, which began to push the accelerator starting from the meeting at the end of July between the national security advisors of the countries of the group. On that occasion Wang Yidirector of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (and at the time about to be reinstated as Foreign Minister), had emphasized the «Spirit of the Brics» aimed at opening up and building a “multipolar world“, to defend the interests of the so-called “global south”.
Despite the support of Russia, in support of expansion because it is interested in reducing its international isolation, on the way to adding new members Beijing had to overcome the resistance of South Africa, Brazil and India. Pretoria and Brasilia feared that the enlargement could be understood as an explicitly anti-Western move, while New Delhi was more concerned that the entry of new states linked to the People’s Republic would legitimize its ambitions as leader of the global south. A role for which India has also applied.
The six countries invited to the Brics – chosen from the 23 total that had formally requested to join – were therefore the result of a compromisewhich according to several analysts can still be read as a China’s success. The new additions are in fact all important partners of Beijing, both on a commercial and diplomatic level. The People’s Republic is for example the largest importer of petrolium Saudi Arabia, the leading exporter of weapons in Ethiopia (in 2022), and was also the mediator of the historic agreement last March for the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The latter is also the only one of the new members who can be considered truly anti-Western.
With the latest “purchases” the BRICS overall GDP it grew from 27 thousand to 30 thousand billion dollars, two thirds of the 45 thousand billion of the G7 countries. The biggest jump was recorded on energy plan: the group now controls 42% of world oil production (before the expansion it was 20%) and has the second largest global producer of natural gas in Tehran. What matters for China, however, is above all the political implications of an expansion that Xi has defined as “historic”.
The democratization of international relations
Born as “Bric” in 2009 with the aim of grouping the four emerging economies of the twenty-first century (South Africa joined in 2010), today the Brics group may have transformed into a subject with considerable political relevance. Xi himself defined the group as a force capable of “shaping the international landscape“. Rejecting what it calls the US “cold war mentality”, China does not think of Brics as a bloc in opposition to the existing American-led international order. Rather he considers it a set of Countries promoting a “democratization of international relations”that is, an improvement of the current system until true multilateralism is achieved.
In the speech written by Xi for the Brics Business Forum on August 22 (but delivered by the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao: the leader’s absence had led to various speculations, which were later reversed), the word “Global” appeared seventeen times. China portrays itself as a responsible power, guarantor of stability and security. The expansion of the Brics is aimed at strengthening this narrative and making it available to all countries, with particular attention to those considered to be part of the global southto whom it is presented “the other side of modernization”, Xi said. In fact, a modernization that does not follow universal values of Western origin but which respects the specific cultural characteristics and political systems of individual states, including authoritarian ones.
Developing country
The People’s Republic is progressively expanding the groups to which it is a part. Not only the Brics, but also the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (Sco), aimed at economic, political and security collaboration between members, welcomed Iran in 2023. By doing so, in addition to legitimizing its position against “exclusive circles”, Beijing on the one hand ensures that a wide range of the world remains open to Chinese investmentsand on the other hand strengthens its influence within the United Nations and its agencies.
In carrying out their initiatives, the People’s Republic and the other Brics countries always refer to the «Carta dell’Her», as can also be read in the declaration at the end of the summit. Beijing is not seeking to replace the authority of the United Nations, but rather is trying to redirect it toward its own values and interests, which it claims are complementary to those of the global South. As reported by AidDatathe states that have the greatest ties with China are also those that are most willing to align themselves with Beijing during voting at the UN General Assembly. And these are all countries considered “developing”.
China itself continues to consider itself so. During the dialogue with African leaders on the sidelines of the Brics summit, Xi declared that «The People’s Republic will remain forever a member of the developing world.” It is not an economic question, as demonstrated by the size of China’s GDP, which even after the expansion of the Brics still represents 63% of the group’s total GDP. Defining yourself “developing country” means for China to claim a growth path different from the Western one. It is therefore an essential label for legitimize themselves as leaders of the global southcapable of proposing the construction of an international order that gives greater weight to the voice of non-Western countries.
The limits of the Brics
Ming Jinwei, former journalist for the Chinese state news agency Xinhuacompared China’s approach to diplomacy to Maoist guerrilla tactics against the nationalists during the civil war: conquer the villages to isolate the cities. China would therefore be “surrounding” the United States because “it has friends all over the world“, says Ming. But if it is true, as highlighted by journalists Lorenzo Lamperti and Simone Pieranni, that the final document of the Brics summit contains much of the classic Chinese terminology, the group appears anything but monolithic when it comes to internal relations and with Western countries. Including the United States.
Among the new entries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt they are historical Washington’s security partnerwith which Brazil and South Africa also do not want to ruin their respective diplomatic relations. Argentina it is internally divided and the opposition, leading in the polls for the presidential elections on 22 October, has said it will not accept entry into the Brics. L’India it is then part of two “exclusive circles” – as Beijing would call them – with the United States: the Quad for security in the Indo-Pacific (together with Australia and Japan), and theI2U2 with Israel and the Emirates. New Delhi also has some open territorial disputes on the border with Chinaand how Beijing aspires to the leadership of the South of the world that it has courted throughout its presidency of the G20, during which it managed to gain entry into the African Union group.
Not only: Egypt ed Ethiopia have been arguing for some time over the construction of the “Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” on the Blue Nile, and the relations between Iran e Arabia Saudi they still appear fragile. That of the Brics is therefore a heterogeneous group, without real political coherence and with few things in common, among which stands out the desire to reshape the system of finance and international relations. But also on the level of dedollarization, one of the hot topics of the summit, no great progress has been made. There New Development Bankthe Brics bank (but also open to external countries), has announced that it intends to grant at least 30% of its loans in the local currencies of its members between 2022 and 2026, while Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Argentina have committed to using more so Chinese yuan. Measures still considered ineffective in undermining the dollar’s hegemony.
The expansion of the Brics therefore represents for China “a symbolic success, the real impact of which remains to be verified”, said analyst Manoj Kewalramani on the print. Beijing has often used a vague language to attract consensus around its international proposals, but this almost always has some reduced effectiveness. And given the accumulation of different visions and interests, the enlargement of the Brics could further complicate reaching political agreements between members. The group has also never officially supported Chinese projects, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (Bri), and even in his post-Johannesburg summit speech Xi never mentioned his development initiatives (Gdi), safety (Gsi) and civilization (Gci) internationally, demonstrating the lack of consensus on the topic.
At the moment, the Chinese victory lies in having created a dialogue forum between countries from different continents. Once medium powers with a horizon limited to their own region, Brics members will now be able to broaden their respective margin for maneuver and international cooperation. It is this, at least in words, that could truly make them a “big family”.
Cover photo EPA/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/POOL