China is urging the BRICS emerging market bloc to become a competitor to the Group of Seven, which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Britain, according to the Financial Times.
Brexit leaders from across the developing world are gathering to discuss the largest expansion of the forum in more than a decade.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited more than 60 heads of state and government to a summit in Johannesburg from Wednesday, when several countries could be invited to join the bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, several officials familiar with the talks said.
But in the run-up to the summit, New Delhi clashed with Beijing over expansion. Tensions are running high over whether BRICS should be a club impartial to the economic interests of developing countries, or a political force openly challenging the West, people familiar with India and China’s positions told the newspaper.
South African officials said there were 23 countries interested in joining.
“If we enlarge BRICS to represent a similar part of the G7’s global GDP, our collective voice in the world will be even stronger,” said a Chinese official who declined to be identified.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said this month that it was “extremely wrong” to view potential BRICS expansion as an anti-Western move.
However, Western capitals are likely to view the potential additions of Iran, Belarus, and Venezuela as a move to embrace allies Russia and China.
Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are vying to be the first new members since South Africa was invited to the original group of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2010.
President Vladimir Putin will not join other BRICS leaders in Johannesburg.
This would spare Pretoria from having to fulfill its legal obligation to arrest the Russian leader after the International Criminal Court indicted him for war crimes in Ukraine.
Putin is likely to attend via videoconference, and he spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Aug. 17 about Tehran’s request to join the BRICS, according to the Kremlin.
China’s foreign ministry said Xi Jinping would travel to Johannesburg on Monday for the summit and other discussions with African leaders, a rare trip abroad for a Chinese president this year.
The only other international trip Xi has taken so far in 2023 was to Russia in March.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently spoke in favor of opening BRICS membership to neighboring Argentina and Venezuela, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
According to the newspaper, the meeting will discuss the adoption of their local currencies in trade between them on a larger scale, and the membership of the Development Bank run by the group.
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2023-08-21 02:51:02
