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Date: 12/11/2024
Where:
Kazan, Russia
Who’s involved:
BRICS+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates)
What happened?
From 22-24 October 2024, the 16th BRICS+ summit was held in Kazan, Russia. Following their accession to the BRICS bloc in January 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) attended for the first time. A total of 29 other country leaders and attendees included the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Various topics were discussed during the summit, including the conflict escalation in the Middle East, alternatives to the dominant U.S. dollar, a BRICS payment system, and endorsement of reform of the UN and Security Council. The summit did not result in actionable plans to end the ongoing conflicts in either the Middle East nor Ukraine. Additionally, thirteen additional countries were added to the list of partners to the BRICS+ bloc, including: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, re-introduced what is predominantly China’s vision of a more Sino-centric global order, also known as ‘The Great Rejuvenation’ or ‘The Chinese Dream’. China’s president Xi Jinping spoke multiple times about this vision, extending its reach to the BRICS+ bloc’s leaders.
Xi Jinping during the summit focused mostly on the CCP’s Global Security Initiative (GSI). The GSI covers various areas such as counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, biosecurity, emerging technologies and international policing. The GSI serves as a framework for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) norms in terms of diplomacy, governance and security. Additionally, the GSI outlines the ways in which China would play the most important role in the new global governance system.
During the summit, Xi raised the motive for the newest members of the BRICS group, namely Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE, to also implement the GSI framework in their own governance.
Initiatives as a result of China’s Global Security Initiative can already be seen. For example, China and Brazil’s six ‘common understandings’ – or the so-called ‘peace plan’ – strategizing a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that was agreed upon prior to the summit.
Analysis:
BRICS+ is an increasingly disparate group of countries representing at times polar opposite ideals, societies, and political systems, that nonetheless have a shared message to challenge what they see as a Western dominance in the world’s political and economic institutions such as United Nations Security Council as well as major development banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The GSI follows these ideas by objecting to the U.S.-led global security system.
The GSI was Xi Jinping’s main message in his 2024 BRICS+ summit opening speech. The GSI is a diplomatic tool for the CCP to help China be at the forefront of the several and serious challenges the world is undergoing, such as climate change, terrorism, escalating conflicts and worsening geopolitical tension. As a result, the GSI is expected to have a strong influence on Chinese foreign and security policy.
The GSI further attempts to unify the Global South through its focus on peace in the region. For example, Xi Jinping voted for a cease fire in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza conflicts. China is also re-establishing its ties with India, despite years of disputes, and both have withdrawn their troops from their shared border. Although India and China are far from close allies, these steps show the CCP’s willingness to make the GSI succeed.
Xi’s focus on the GSI during the BRICS+ summit shows the CCP’s eagerness to instill the GSI as an ideological framework within the BRICS+ nations and their institutions, and introduce Chinese security norms into their operational practices. International policing for example, is already implemented in different (western) countries, sometimes without permission from the local government.
Other BRICS+ nations did not directly respond to the GSI, however Xi Jinping stated that: “Many parties have responded warmly to my Global Security Initiative.”
Even though the specifics of the GSI remain vague, there are some similarities between it and the BRI in terms of cooperation between China and other nations in the Global South. Both the GSI and the BRI create new opportunities for the Global South to develop critical processes away from U.S. and EU help and influence, creating more independence from the U.S. and the EU, and more cooperation between nations within the Global South.
During the summit, Xi Jinping also expressed his view on the future development of the BRICS+ bloc, and included five suggestions for a united Global South. He recommended steering BRICS+ towards a group of nations that is committed to peace, innovation, green development, justice and closer people-to-people exchanges. Not only do these goals overlap with the GSI, some of these goals are very similar to ‘Xi Jinping Thought’, the ideology that drives the rejuvenation of China.
Conclusion
Although the BRICS+ bloc has few tangible results, the bloc is growing and the message of the bloc remains strong and uniting. The 2024 summit held in Kazan, Russia, gave Xi Jinping a platform to promote the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) GSI to several leaders from across the world, including the latest nations to join the BRICS+ bloc. The GSI provides the CCP with a framework for ways in which China can be at the center of the new global governance system, as an alternative to the current U.S. and western hegemony, assisted by the Global South. With initiatives such as the BRICS+ summit, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the GSI, China’s aim to unify countries within the Global South and present itself as their leader appears more within reach, challenging the current global order in which the U.S. plays the major role.
