Debate in the BRICS about the future of the bloc

Johannesburg [South Africa], August 24: At the conference in South Africa, the BRICS countries showed different views on admitting more members and becoming a counterweight to Western powers.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on August 23 that BRICS members - including India, Brazil, South Africa, Russia and China - had adopted a document outlining guidelines and principles for the admission of more members. , according to Reuters. Even so, the five countries in the bloc disagree on the scale and speed of this process.
Different stance
China, the largest economy in the bloc, has long pushed for the admission of more members. In the context of increasingly fierce competition between it and the US, as well as rising global tensions due to the Ukraine war, Beijing considers the expansion of the BRICS all the more urgent.
"We must uphold the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusion and win-win cooperation, enable more countries to join the BRICS family, gather wisdom and strength, and promote the development of governance." global governance in a more just and reasonable direction," said President Xi Jinping at the BRICS plenary session on August 23, according to Xinhua.
Not going to South Africa to attend the conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke online from Moscow on August 23. According to TASS, the leader said "the strategic direction of the BRICS will expand in the future" and meet the wishes of much of the international community. He also said the BRICS countries "agreed to work towards building a multipolar world order, a truly just order".
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on August 22 that he and Xi had similar views on expanding the BRICS. But Brazil and India take a different approach as both countries are trying to build closer ties with the West.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insists he does not want the BRICS to "become a counterweight to the G7, the G20 or the US", although he supports the bloc's expansion. While pushing for neighboring Argentina to join the BRICS, he said any new members need to meet certain conditions so that the bloc doesn't become a "Tower of Babel", a place where there is too much conflict. distinctive.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on August 23 that New Delhi fully supports the expansion of the BRICS. However, an Indian official familiar with the discussions in Johannesburg on August 22 revealed that Mr. Modi had demanded "there must be ground rules on how admission is done and who can join". As China's economic and geopolitical rival, India is wary of the BRICS becoming the institution that helps Beijing push its agenda.
America's Reaction
According to South African officials, more than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS and more than 20 have officially applied.
Speaking to reporters in Washington DC on August 22, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he did not think the BRICS would become a geopolitical rival to the US. "This is a very diverse set of countries ... with different views on important issues," Mr. Sullivan told Reuters.
In addition to the issue of expansion, BRICS is also working to make its development bank an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Promoting the use of BRICS member countries' local currencies in commercial and financial transactions to reduce dependence on the USD is also on the agenda of the Johannesburg conference.
According to President Putin, the "objective, irreversible process of de-dollarization" in the BRICS bloc is progressing. Meanwhile, President Lula said the BRICS countries "want to sit at the negotiating table on an equal basis with the US, the European Union (EU) or any other country".
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper