BRICS agrees to add new members as Xi hails ‘historic’ decision

BRICS members have agreed to allow six new members into their grouping of developing countries, adding weight to the bloc that some see as a counterbalance to the U.S.-led West. Chinese leader Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 hailed the decision to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates into the group as “historic” in remarks made during the BRICS summit currently ongoing in Johannesburg, South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement at a press briefing today, telling attendees that the six nations would become full members in 2024.

Speaking at the press conference, Xi said that the addition of the countries would “inject new vitality” into the group, and reflected the “determination of the BRICS countries to unite and cooperate with developing countries.”

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) had been discussing details of the new members as recently as yesterday as they smoothed out disagreements on the terms of admission.

As many as 40 countries had expressed interest in joining the group, with 22 formally requesting admission, South African officials told Reuters.

Among the details holding up consensus on the decision to admit new members were proposals from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to include countries targeted by international sanctions (such as Iran), and to include a minimum GDP per capita requirement on new members, Reuters reported.

Indonesia was notably not included in the list of newly admitted members, in a surprise to some well-informed observers. Eurasia Group head and geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer had predicted on social media that Southeast Asia’s largest country was a likely candidate to join BRICS.

Courting the Global South

Xi Jinping has given a number of speeches and held meetings with leaders of developing nations as China aims to position itself as a friend to the Global South.

In another speech on Thursday, Xi told attendees that China “has always shared the fate of developing countries and has been, is, and will always be a member of the developing world.” In the same speech, Xi announced a new $10 billion fund intended to help complete global development projects.

The same day, on the sidelines of the summit, Xi met with leaders of Iran, Cuba, Bangladesh, Congo, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Malawi.

In his meeting with Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Xi congratulated Iran on its admittance to the BRICS group, and touted China’s contribution to improvements in Iran-Saudi Arabia relations when China brokered normalization of relations between the two countries last March.

A viable counterweight?

Xi Jinping has long hoped to position the BRICS countries as a bloc counterbalanced against the combined power of developed Western democracies. However, the diverging interests of the five nations making up the grouping have long made coordinating efforts to counter the West difficult.

U.S. officials have downplayed the prospect of an enlarged BRICS group posing a significant challenge to American global leadership.

“Some BRICS countries like India are already key strategic partners with the United States, and that will not change as additional countries join BRICS,” Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) told The China Project today.

“We can be confident about our existing partnerships and work to strengthen ties with others in ways that are mutually beneficial and increase stability and security across the world,” Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on a Congressional committee focused on China, said.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan echoed the sentiment on Tuesday when speaking to reporters.

“We are not looking at the BRICS as evolving into some kind of geopolitical rival to the United States or anyone else,” Sullivan said.

China and Russia have grown closer as U.S.-China relations have deteriorated in recent years, and in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which made Putin a global pariah and a target of an international arrest warrant (he is attending the summit virtually). Meanwhile, India and Brazil have in many ways grown closer to the West, with Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva saying the grouping is not meant to play such a role on Tuesday.

There has been much speculation in the media that a newly enlarged BRICS will help its members to de-dollarize their economies and trading relationships. Putin mentioned such efforts in his Tuesday speech, and Beijing has been strengthening its efforts to channel developing world unease over Washington’s weaponization of the dollar to push global use of the yuan. But no mention was made of this in today’s announcements.