China and the time of the BRICS

XULIO RIOS

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, RussiaIt is the first summit that is celebrate after a new wave of expansion of group, materialized this year with the inclusion of Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Russia holds the annual rotating presidency of the group.Xi's presence confirms China's continued interest in affirming this mechanism to both boost practical cooperation and to provide responses to the current international situation. China is a key player among the BRICS.

The moment of the BRICS

There is a virtually unanimous perception of a worsening of the major international dilemmas, whether we are referring to issues of peace or development, manifesting itself in open discontent with the different yardsticks applied to certain conflicts and the persistence in preserving an exclusive hegemony that does not take into sufficient consideration the changes that have occurred in recent decades in the international economy and society.

The growing rejection of a Western liberal hegemony applied in this way reflects a set of concerns shared by a large number of countries. And increasingly this concern is also manifesting itself through a more proactive agenda of convergent interests.

Since their founding, the BRICS have strived to uphold multilateralism and become a positive force with a stabilizing influence on international affairs.

This has attracted the growing interest of a large number of countries, more than thirty, which today want to join the project. Strategic expansion is one of the most important issues on the agenda, especially because of its impact on the management of decisions that follow the founding consensus maxim.

Immersed in a process of clear consolidation and substantial progress in cooperation with third countries, this circle of friendly countries that makes up BRICS Plus and beyond, supports the initial model that promotes collaboration based on the balance of interests and the permanent search for agreement.

This trajectory strengthens a new model of international relations based on the revalidation of the sovereign equality of States but also stimulates a shared community in areas that transition from politics and la security, to Economy and Finance to Cultural and humanitarian ties.

The BRICS have earned the status of a reference for a large number of countries that attribute to them the representation of the interests of the Global South in its vastest domains, not only in geopolitics but in areas such as climate change, food security, disease prevention and IMF quota reform (International Monetary Fund), issues where their voice must be heard.

The BRICS are called upon to correct the existing imbalance in the distribution of global power. This is a reflection of an outdated era, and resistance to their adaptation to the present moment must also be overcome.

The asymmetry that characterizes its composition or the disparate stages of development of its members warns of the convergence of positions of many countries with different identities. For this reason, the BRICS are capable of overcoming possible contradictions in the interest of the greater interest that is today the management of dissatisfaction with hegemony.

China's outstanding role

China stands ready to work with all parties to ensure stable and lasting progress of cooperation among the BRICS countries. Xi will reiterate China's support for opening a new era of unity and improvement for the Global South.

The truth is that China became the driving force of the current grouping. The New Development Bank is based in Shanghai, a testament to its leadership exercise from the beginning. It also plays a major role in the Contingency Reserve Agreement (CRA). Both instruments han opened a breach in the monopoly exercised by the Bretton Woods institutions: the World Bank and the IMF, offering a alternative source of financing whose rules differ from those guiding established institutionsWith China's backing, the BRICS mechanisms have the potential to irreversibly alter the overall financial picture.

This summit in Kazan can give another boost to that process by encouraging the new BRICS Pay payment system, highlighting the strengthening of economic and trade ties among the BRICS countries. EThis initiative The will provide expanded payment options to settle goods and services, further consolidating their economic relations and helping to reduce excessive dependence on the US dollar, balance su ofo, foster financial diversification and strengthen economic autonomy among BRICS members and its community. 

BRICS Pay is a decentralized and independent payment messaging system being developed by BRICS member states, comparable to Europe's SWIFT. China can serve as experience pilot for multilateral cooperation, included the Initiative of the fringe and the Route.

Politically, the prominent role of the played by China to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran, two partners in the BRICS.

In short, the consolidation of China as a global actor has in the BRICS a clear example that its rise is not based on hegemony but on a collective aspiration to the recognition of the interests of the Global South.

Profound change in the international system

The progress made by the BRICS can be summarised as an increase in their global influence and progress towards achieving a progressive and profound change in the international power structure.

The BRICS are making their way. Representing almost 40 percent of the world economy, They are the actors called to promote reforms in the global order, seeking not conflict but agreement. They want better safeguard their economic sovereignty while seeking to expand cooperation. This may mean the beginning of the end of the economic and financial order implemented in the post-war period by the Western powersThat this becomes a premise is the responsibility of those who insist on maintaining an obsolete power scheme.

The increase in representativeness and The operational capacity of the BRICS can affect the fate of the world. Beyond their role in geopolitical disputes, especially for their contribution to solving the great challenges of humanity.

Xulio Ríos is an emeritus advisor to the China Policy Observatory.