The BRICS countries are a cooperation mechanism composed of China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. These five countries have 25.24% of the global GDP, 42% of the foreign exchange reserves, 26.46% of the total territory, and nearly 42% of the population. One of their projected purposes is to replace the incumbent US$ currency standard by an adequate alternative, thus reducing economic dependencies of developing nations from the USA. While Russia is being occupied with waging war on Ukraine and struggling with Western sanctions, China seems to be the true global power behind BRICS and which is pulling the strings by now.
As the BRICS countries begin to play an increasingly important role on the international stage, capacity expansion has become a hot topic among the five BRICS countries. According to South African officials, currently 13 countries have formally submitted applications for membership, and 6 countries have informally expressed their intention to join. That process of expansion, however, is going to be tedious and time-consuming.
Here is what Tencent Network 腾讯网 wrote today (June 3) about expected development and basic intentions of the BRICS Alliance, as seen from a Chinese point of view :
面对金砖国家的快速发展，一些国家开始慌了神。据日本《每日新闻》报道，19个国家排队加入金砖国家，金砖国家将吸纳越来越多的发展中国家加入，并逐步取得与七国集团（G7）抗衡的实力。
日媒哀叹称，对于发达国家而言，金砖国家未来可能成为一个“难以对付的存在”。印度尼西亚、埃及、土耳其等国家曾在前不久受邀参加广岛G7峰会，但它们现在都有意成为金砖国家中的一员。
Faced with the rapid development of the BRICS countries, some countries began to panic. According to Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun", 19 countries line up to join the BRICS countries. The BRICS countries will absorb more and more developing countries to join, and gradually gain the strength to compete with the Group of Seven (G7).
Japanese media lamented that for developed countries, the BRICS countries may become a "difficult existence" in the future. Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey and other countries were invited to participate in the Hiroshima G7 summit not long ago, but now they all intend to become a member of the BRICS.
阿联酋、尼日利亚、沙特阿拉伯、伊朗等产油国也申请加入金砖国家，这意味着金砖国家将掌握全球过半的天然气和石油。金砖机制将在全球能源领域中扮演越来越重要的角色。
并且，金砖国家将可能会吸纳众多被西方世界边缘化的亚非拉国家。巴西一直想让南美洲国家加入金砖，巴西总统卢拉在前几日会见了委内瑞拉总统马杜罗，明确表示将支持委内瑞拉成为金砖的一员。
除此之外，巴西还把南美洲第二大国家阿根廷视为“战略邻国”，力推其加入金砖。如果阿根廷等南美洲国家都成为金砖国家的成员国，该地区的其它国家也都会萌生出加入金砖的想法。
The United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other oil-producing countries have also applied to join the BRICS countries, which means that the BRICS countries will control more than half of the world's natural gas and oil. The BRICS mechanism will play an increasingly important role in the global energy sector.
Moreover, the BRICS countries will likely absorb many Asian, African and Latin American countries that have been marginalized by the Western world. Brazil has always wanted South American countries to join the BRICS. Brazilian President Lula met with Venezuelan President Maduro a few days ago and made it clear that he would support Venezuela in becoming a member of the BRICS.
In addition, Brazil regards Argentina, the second largest country in South America, as a "strategic neighbor" and pushes it to join the BRICS. If Argentina and other South American countries become members of the BRICS, other countries in the region will also have the idea of joining the BRICS.
India - A Swaggering Candidate ....
India seems to have some difficulties with BRICS expansion. It fears a loss of importance in the presence of other developing nations owing a similar potential.
彭博社报道称，印度希望就金砖扩员流程达成协议，以此获得中国及其盟友不会将印度“排挤”至次要地位的保证。
事实上，我国一向寻求与他国展开务实合作，从未排挤过哪个国家。但如果印度在金砖机制中只会拖延决策的形成，干扰他国的合作，越来越多的国家将会主动把印度晾在一边。
Bloomberg reported that India hopes to reach an agreement on the BRICS expansion process, so as to obtain assurances that China and its allies will not "squeeze" India to a secondary position.
In fact, our country [i.e. China] has always sought to carry out practical cooperation with other countries, and has never excluded any country. However, if India will only delay the formation of decision-making in the BRICS mechanism and interfere with the cooperation of other countries, more and more countries will take the initiative to put India aside.
US Decay Led to the Rise of BRICS
Instead of naming it a confrontation between the West and BRICS, the Chinese source is stressing that BRICS came into being as an alternative for nations on the rise to a Western dominated alliance, already weakened by US decay.
美国媒体则从金砖国家的发展壮大中看到了美国在走下坡路，一些美国媒体认为，既然有这么多的国家希望加入到金砖机制之中，那么这可能反映了当前国际格局的一种趋势，新兴的经济力量正在对原有的经济力量发起“挑战”。
盖洛普咨询公司（Gallup）发布的报告所显示，美国的国际领导地位正在减弱，中国已经在多个方面上超过了美国。而且从长期趋势上看，世界不再信任美国，也不指望美国可以通过改变自身形象来重新博取他国的信任。
在这种大环境下，很多国家开始通过加入到类似金砖机制等的合作组织来寻找更广泛的资源、市场以及全球治理方案。因此，金砖五国能够通过扩员来增强地区和全球治理的领导权。
The American media saw the decline of the United States from the development and growth of the BRICS countries. Some American media believe that since so many countries want to join the BRICS mechanism, this may reflect a trend in the current international situation. Emerging economic forces are launching a "challenge" to the original economic forces.
According to a report released by Gallup, the international leadership of the United States is weakening, and China has surpassed the United States in many aspects. Moreover, from a long-term perspective, the world no longer trusts the United States, and does not expect the United States to regain the trust of other countries by changing its own image.
In this general environment, many countries have begun to seek broader resources, markets, and global governance solutions by joining cooperative organizations such as the BRICS mechanism. Therefore, the BRICS can strengthen leadership in regional and global governance through expansion.
Editor's Comment
US decay partly enabled the unprecedented economic and political rise of China, as well as Russia's imperialism in its regions of interest. In addition, US politics, namely under president Trump, fostered a dangerous development in Iran and North Korea. As a result, even long-standing partners in Europe are showing their disappointment of what is happening in the States now.
Seeing itself at the center of a democratic alliance, at times referred to as the "Community of Democracies" or a "Concert of Democracies", US leaders forgot the necessity to attract other countries by alternatives rather than exclude them by sanctions.
National interests, not ideology, should therefore be the guiding compass for US policy. Some US source I recently encountered put it like this: Instead of simply relying on an alliance of hand-picked democracies, there should be a coalition of open and resilient economies (CORE).
Looking at BRICS that's just what China and Russia have in mind as far as it concerns the unhampered economic development of BRICS member countries. The BRICS concept, however, wilfully excludes all those aspects related to democratic development and human rights. This could become the critical point of decision for developing nations as soon as Western alliances were able to realize the CORE concept. - Ulysses -
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