Source: GT    Published: 2022-06-18

When the main theme of peace and development has been seriously challenged by the US-led alliances and when the negative impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the world economy and global sustainable development has become increasingly prominent, China is hosting the BRICS Summit next week to provide a platform for developing nations to build consensus on addressing acute development challenges, analysts said.

They said the BRICS Summit also provides a platform for the world to hear a wider range of nations calling for a fair, just and inclusive world governance system, not just the voice of small cliques of the US which mistakenly believe they represent the majority in seeking bloc confrontation and reversing globalization.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the virtual 14th BRICS Summit in Beijing on June 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Friday. The Summit will be held under the theme of "Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development."

The Summit will be held under the theme of "Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development."

Xi will host the High-level Dialogue on Global Development in Beijing on June 24, and BRICS leaders and leaders of relevant emerging markets and developing countries will attend the event. Xi will attend the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum in virtual format and deliver a keynote speech on June 22.

As an important support event of the BRICS Summit, the BRICS Business Forum will see over 1,000 representatives from embassies and enterprises of BRICS+ countries and the forum will release a BRICS Business Beijing Initiative, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said on Friday.

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said at Friday's media briefing that BRICS countries have withstood the test of the changing international situation and become an important force that cannot be ignored on the international stage. As the world enters a new period of turbulence and change, the importance of further deepening BRICS cooperation has become more prominent, and emerging markets and developing countries have a stronger desire to participate in BRICS cooperation.

China expects to work with the other BRICS countries to deepen cooperation through the BRICS Summit and make a greater contribution to maintaining peace and stability and promoting development, Wang said.

A series of BRICS meetings next week will not only be attended by the five BRICS members but representatives of emerging market countries such as Indonesia and Argentina, and observers believe it indicates that the BRICS nations represent the common concept of the world's developing countries and new forces in global governance reform, which pursues independent diplomacy and development paths instead of following the West economically and politically, and explores a fairer, more just and mutually beneficial international order, because being trapped in a West-dominated old order of confrontation and zero-sum games can only lead to endless conflicts and crisis.

Wang Wen, a professor and executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Friday that the West is attempting to profit by turning security and conflicts as the main theme of the world, and the BRICS Summit hosted by China is expected to bring a fresh atmosphere to the world, which includes an equal global governance system instead of the one dominated by the US with hegemony, a new finance reform approach of making finance serve the economic entity instead of weaponizing finance, and repairing the global supply chain undermined by the US which touted decoupling.

The US has been seeking to isolate Russia and contain China and spark a Cold War-like confrontation. Washington is speeding up its so-called Indo-Pacific Strategy in Asia by inviting ASEAN leaders to a summit, visiting Japan and South Korea, excluding China and BRICS countries from the high-tech industrial chain and pushing the world to deviate from the process of globalization, analysts said.  

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has a spillover effect globally, including on food security and economy, which has raised concerns from the UN and has posed a severe challenge to most of the developing countries, Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the department of American Studies in China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Friday.

The series of BRICS meetings will focus on security and development, Zhu Tianxiang, director of Political Security Center of Sichuan International Studies University's BRICS Research Institute, told the Global Times. He noted that BRICS members will discuss how to achieve a cease-fire as soon as possible for the Russia-Ukraine conflict and advance peace negotiations on the basis of meeting the legitimate concerns of all parties, global energy and food security issues raised by the conflict, as well as the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Accounting for more than 40 percent of the world's population, the BRICS countries－Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa－account for 24 percent of global GDP and 16 percent of world trade.

BRICS members will also respond to the wishes of other countries to apply for BRICS membership, discuss and decide whether to support BRICS expansion and launch consultations on the principles, standards and procedures for BRICS expansion, Zhu said.

Argentina has been invited to the summit, according to local media, which said the country has expressed an interest in joining the group.

In response to media questions over China's view on expanding BRICS, Wang Wenbin said following the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting in May that the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting backed the expansion of the initiative, while the "BRICS Plus" consultations were also held as part of the ministers' meeting, which fully demonstrated that BRICS cooperation is open and inclusive. China will further promote the expansion with all parties involved to establish standards and processes.

Analysts said the developing nations also look forward to China's approaches in addressing the global issues and supporting the development of developing nations at the BRICS Summit, as China is the world's second largest economy and the only major economy to register growth amid the pandemic.

Su noted that most of the developing countries are dissatisfied with how the West reacted to the Ukraine crisis including shifting the blame and avoiding taking responsibility. They hope to discuss the vast developing countries' concerns on security and development more objectively and rationally, Su said.

Not targeting G7

Another bloc meeting, the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders' Summit, will be held from June 26 to 28.

US President Joe Biden plans to launch a global infrastructure initiative to counter China's "international ambitions," particularly in the Asia-Pacific, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

The US-initiated partnership will cover global infrastructure, physical health and digital infrastructure, and will provide "an alternative to what the Chinese are offering," Bloomberg said.

From the perspective of global governance reform and development, the BRICS Summit is a counterbalance to the global evil trend of Western countries in forming small cliques with the G7, but BRICS does not target any developed country or aim at forming a confrontation against G7, Wang Wen said.

"BRICS stands higher and sees farther than the G7. So if the G7 represents the 20th century, BRICS represents the future of the 21st century," Wang Wen said, explaining the BRICS Summit stands at the future of human civilization, which is more inclusive and represents a wider range of countries than G7.

As for Biden's global infrastructure initiative, Wang Wen said it's clearly "copying China's homework," which only proves the correctness of China's Belt and Road Initiative and other global development initiatives it promotes and makes China firmer in promoting BRI.

In response to Biden's global infrastructure initiative, Wang Wenbin said that the US initiative ignores the aspirations of all countries for common development and win-win cooperation, engages in zero-sum games and incites division and confrontation, and any calculation to advance geopolitics in the name of infrastructure development is not welcome and will not succeed.

Key cooperation achievements of BRICS countries Editor: Huo Siyu/GT Graphic: Xiong Xiaoying/GT