2023-08-23 08:13:47
Summit in South Africa
Brics states want to weaken Western dominance
The heads of state of the Brics member countries meet in South Africa. At the center of the summit is the claim of the countries to oppose the dominance of the West.
Updated23. Aug 2023, 10:13 am
Heads of state among themselves: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Chinese President Xi Jinping, Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demonstrate unity.
via REUTERS
Vladimir Putin was present with a recorded speech. Because he is threatened with arrest in South Africa,…
REUTERS
… he sent his Foreign Minister Lavrov to the meeting.
Ramaphosa awarded China’s Xi Jinping the Order of South Africa, the country’s highest decoration.
REUTERS
High representatives of the emerging countries Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa are meeting in Johannesburg until Thursday.
It is primarily about clarifying the membership of new countries. China and Russia in particular are pushing for expansion.
The goal is more influence in the world. Together, the previous five Brics countries make up 42 percent of the world’s population.
Expanding the group will be the focus of the Brics summit of five key emerging economies in South Africa on Wednesday. The group, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, aims to counterbalance and weaken the West’s geopolitical and economic dominance.
China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi have traveled to the business hub of Johannesburg for the meeting. Only Russian President Vladimir Putin is missing – because he is in South Africa because of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court imminent arrest, he takes part in the three-day meeting, which ends on Thursday, via video. The five heads of state will give a short speech on Wednesday – another video message from Putin is also on the agenda.
counterweight to the West
The heads of state are expected to comment on the admission criteria for new members. There could also be indications as to when additional countries will be included in order to get out of the group of five with newcomers «Brics plus» close. In this way, Brics wants to counterbalance other forums of economically strong countries such as the G7 or the G20. According to their own statements, the five Brics countries already account for 42 percent of the world’s population and around a quarter of global economic output.
According to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, around 40 countries have expressed a more or less binding interest in Brics membership, 23 of them concretely. These include Argentina, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Venezuela and Bangladesh.
Admission of new members divides Brics states
Discussions on the future of the alliance are also scheduled for today’s summit at the summit. “I am pleased to note that over 20 countries are knocking on the door of the Brics,” President Xi Jingping said in a statement, read by China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. China hopes more countries will join the group. Russia is also committed to opening up the group.
Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others, have submitted a formal application to join the alliance. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi have announced their participation.
Brazil, India and South Africa are currently less interested in enlargement because it would weaken their influence. First, the five Brics members want to agree on criteria that new members would have to meet. That’s on the agenda in Johannesburg at Beijing’s urging.
India does the balancing act
For the most populous country since the end of April 2023, the announced goal of weakening the dominance of the West is likely to pose problems. Because the country has increasingly close economic and diplomatic ties with the West, meanwhile, historically speaking, neighbor China does not get along well at all. Brazil and South Africa are doing the same, as the “Welt” writes: South Africa is hosting this year’s Brics conference, and soon Pretoria will also renegotiate the free trade agreement between African countries and the USA at the Agoa meeting.
A stage for Putin and Xi
For the because of war of aggression against Ukraine internationally isolated Putin, Brics is the ideal setting to demonstrate that his country still has allies. According to this logic, “Brics plus” would also mean for Russia: the more, the better. In addition, Moscow advocates a multipolar world order without US supremacy.
China also wants to use “Brics plus” as a stage against the USA and put itself at the center of the world order. South Africa describes a “changed global order” as the goal of the summit. Western industrial powers are increasingly neglecting the concerns of the Global South, Pandor said in advance.
Brazil’s President Lula emphasized on Tuesday that Brics is not directed against anyone, but rather to better organize the Global South. «We want to organize ourselves as the Global South. We are important in the global debate and sit at the negotiating table on an equal footing with the European Union and the United States,” he said.
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