India, Brazil Resist China's Attempts At Increasing Its Political Clout By Expanding BRICS Alliance To Counter US

India and Brazil have been pushing back against China's attempts lately to expand the BRICS Bloc of emerging markets, aiming to increase its political influence and counter the United States, according to reports from officials familiar with the matter.

In preparatory talks for an upcoming summit in Johannesburg, objections have been raised by several countries regarding the potential expansion of the group.

The summit, which will involve Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), will discuss the inclusion of Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Reports revealed that China has been advocating for expansion during these meetings.

The alliance has attracted the interest of numerous other nations, leading to concerns in the West that it may evolve into a rival power to the United States and the European Union.

While Brazil is apprehensive about expansion due to these concerns, India is pushing for stringent rules governing the conditions under which other nations could align themselves with the group without formal expansion.

Any decision regarding expansion will require consensus among the members, who are scheduled to meet from 22-24 August.

China's foreign ministry responded to Bloomberg, stating that the BRICS leaders meeting last year had authorised the expansion of membership. Adding more members to BRICS is the political consensus of the five BRICS countries, they claimed.

The main objective of the meeting is to demonstrate the bloc's ambitions of becoming a significant political and economic force. The possibility of establishing a common currency has been discussed, although substantial progress towards this goal is not anticipated at this time.

South Africa's President will be participating in the meeting virtually to avoid the execution of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for him.

While BRICS members have chosen not to join the Group of Seven in blaming and sanctioning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the New Development Bank established by BRICS has frozen Russian projects.

Additionally, Moscow has been unable to access dollars through the bloc's shared foreign currency system.

Russia's position on expanding BRICS is not firm, according to Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the Kremlin.

Russia is not particularly enthusiastic about expansion, but it is willing to follow the lead of the other member countries, he further added. It has no intention of blocking any decisions made regarding expansion, he clarified.

The BRICS bloc, officially formed in 2009-2010, has struggled to exert significant geopolitical influence despite its collective economic power.

The current BRICS members represent over 42 per cent of the world's population and account for 23 per cent of global gross domestic product and 18 per cent of trade.

Draft rules for admission to the group have been developed in response to India's opposition to China's push for expansion. These guidelines are expected to be discussed and adopted during the upcoming leader's summit next month.

India suggests that BRICS nations should consider including emerging economies and democracies like Argentina and Nigeria rather than Saudi Arabia, which has a dynastic and autocratic rule.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently discussed the potential admission of Saudi Arabia into BRICS with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. However, both the Ministry of External Affairs in India and the Saudi Arabian government have not provided any comments on the matter.

If Saudi Arabia were to join BRICS, it would support Crown Prince Mohammed's efforts to diversify the nation's economy.

This diversification has brought Saudi Arabia closer to Russia and China in recent years, with China being the kingdom's top oil customer and Russia being a crucial ally in the OPEC+ alliance.

Brazil is actively working towards maintaining peace within the BRICS bloc and avoiding any direct conflicts or challenges to the G7, according to reports.

Despite China's repeated requests for expansion, Brazil aims to prevent the bloc from becoming antagonistic and instead proposes the creation of "observer" and "partner country" categories. This would allow new nations to progress through these categories before potentially becoming members.

In support of this proposal, Brazil is willing to assist Indonesia in starting the process of joining the bloc.