Barely three weeks after India and China agreed to disengage from the Doklam region, (the site of 10-week border standoff), Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo arrived in India for the 12th Indo-Japan Summit, a clear signal of the dynamism behind Asian balance of power politics.

5 September 2017: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) adopted the ‘BRICS Leaders’ Xiamen Declaration,’ reaffirming their commitment to fully implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing to enhance BRICS cooperation on climate change and expand green financing, and agreeing “to take concrete actions to advance result-oriented cooperation in such areas as prevention of air and water pollution, waste management and biodiversity conservation,” among others.

The ninth BRICS summit represented the victory of pragmatism over narrow nationalistic impulses

E.I.R. Strategic alert volume 31, No. 37 - September 14, 2017