China aligns foreign policy goals with BRICS agenda — expert
China is aligning its foreign policy with the agenda of the BRICS group, Alexey Maslov, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, said.
"For China, BRICS is becoming increasingly relevant. China has always paid attention to BRICS, was one of the founders of this platform, but always treated it as secondary, because for a long time the main thing for China was its own Belt and Road initiative, direct bilateral ties, and one-on-one interaction. In this sense, multilateral platforms like BRICS served more as a supplementary tool than a mainstay. And now it is becoming clear that even such seemingly grandiose projects as the Belt and Road initiative cannot be promoted alone, and China is moving to other positions," he said at a round table in TASS dedicated to the results of the BRICS summit.
Maslov emphasized that BRICS offers a platform where China can play an influential role and have its voice heard. The expert explained that the country is now actively talking about the need to restructure global governance, and the positions of China and Russia on how the world should be governed are aligned.
"That is, the UN needs to be reinvigorated. It is necessary not to break off ties with the WTO, for example, but on the contrary to cooperate with the WTO. It is necessary to introduce the new BRICS development bank as a major player. China is really in favor of multipolarity, for it this is simply a key issue, and here the Russian and Chinese positions coincide," he said.
Maslov added that tariffs and sanctions are also an area of concern for China.
"And it is China that strongly condemns this situation, when [US President Donald] Trump promises to impose 10% duties on the countries that cooperate with BRICS. In fact, these are almost all Asian countries, because every single country is a Chinese partner, and China feels that the blow is aimed not even at BRICS, but against it personally," he said.
Maslov added that China has always advocated that all conflicts be resolved peacefully and through negotiations, but now the country is also emphasizing its willingness to act as a carrier for resolving these conflicts. The expert noted that at the last summit China came up with a very constructive agenda, moving away from simple declarations and offering substantial things.
About the summit
The BRICS summit was held in Rio de Janeiro on July 6 and 7. Besides the group's members and partner states, other countries participated, including Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and Chile. The main topics of discussion were healthcare, trade, investment, finance, climate change, artificial intelligence management, and strengthening peace and security.