BRICS Meetings: Expanded Group Cannot Become A Counterweight to The West

Editorial

16:06 JST, October 25, 2024

Russia’s attempt to dodge criticism of its aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law, by creating a new framework to build friendly relations with other countries is unlikely to succeed.

A summit of the BRICS group, with five emerging economies, including Russia and China, as its major members, was held in the central Russian city of Kazan. An expanded meeting, which included those invited to the summit, was attended by more than 30 nations.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, which is this year’s chair country, touted his leadership by saying that BRICS has enormous potential, bearing in mind the fact that four countries, including Egypt and Iran, joined in January to make it a nine-member group.

Putin has lately become increasingly isolated internationally. It is obvious that he is trying to position the BRICS framework as a counterweight to Western nations and attract more emerging and developing countries of the so-called Global South.

At the summit, the leaders agreed that 13 countries, including Turkey, Indonesia and Thailand, would join by newly establishing a partner country category within BRICS.

The leaders’ declaration strongly reflected the intentions of Russia, China and other countries that are at odds with the West.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, the declaration clearly stated the need for a peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, but — like an earlier peace proposal jointly presented by China and Brazil — it did not call for the withdrawal of Russian troops. It also condemned economic sanctions against Russia by nations including the United States, Europe and Japan as unlawful unilateral measures.

However, Russia has invited sanctions upon itself by continuing its aggression. The declaration’s criticism of sanctions against Russia ignores this point.

The combined gross domestic product of the nine member countries of BRICS accounts for about 30% of the world’s total GDP. The figure falls short of the more than 40% represented by the Group of Seven industrialized nations, but continues to grow. For this reason, it is true that more than a few countries have responded to the calls of China and Russia for the sake of their practical benefits.

However, India and Brazil, which have been BRICS members since its start, are also promoting cooperation with the West in the fields of security and economy. Many of the other countries that participated in the summit also do not want a confrontation with the United States, Europe and Japan.

By analyzing how BRICS is attracting new countries and proposing more attractive cooperation, the camp of democratic nations needs to try to keep them from being used to create a Russian-led camp.

Japan especially must make efforts to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, energy and maritime security, in addition to economic assistance, and to promote the establishment of common rules together, including countries that participated in the summit.

If more countries realize the benefits of a free and stable international order, it should help stop them from leaning toward “anti-Western nations.”

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 25, 2024)