Policy Alert #236 | September 13, 2021

On September 9, 2021, the 13th BRICS Summit was held via videoconference, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The theme of the Summit, chosen by India, was BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus. The Summit saw the participation of all BRICS leaders – President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Xi Jinping of China, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. Several new initiatives included the first BRICS Digital Health Summit; the first BRICS Ministerial Joint Statement on multilateral reforms; a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan; an Agreement on cooperation in field of remote-sensing satellites; a virtual BRICS vaccine Research & Development Centre; and a BRICS Alliance on Green Tourism.

At the conclusion of the Summit, the leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration, which placed an emphasis on COVID-19, strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, and peace, security, and counterterrorism, as well as economic and financial cooperation for sustainable development. Elaborating on these themes, the declaration highlighted the leading role that BRICS countries can play in the post-COVID global recovery through enhancing speed and accessibility of vaccination and diversifying pharma and vaccine production capacities beyond the developed world.

Meeting for the first time since the Taliban captured power, the BRICS leaders managed to cobble together some joint objectives on Afghanistan on paper even as their geopolitical divergences persist: “We stress the need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in the country…We underscore the priority of fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organization.”

India passes the baton to China as the next Chair of BRICS 2022.

In this Policy Alert, we examine the rising powers’ level of convergence at the 13th BRICS Summit 2021.

India

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs’ official press release, Prime Minister Modi “expressed his appreciation for the cooperation received from BRICS partners during India’s Chairship this year.” During his address as chair, Modi cautioned “... (it is important that) we do not become too self-satisfied and we must ensure that BRICS is even more result-oriented in the next 15 years.” On Twitter, the Prime Minister “called for BRICS to contribute to post-COVID global recovery on the motto ‘Build-back Resiliently, Innovatively, Credibly, and Sustainably’.”

• In an op-ed for the liberal Indian Express, Shubhajit Roy, associate editor, examines how this year’s BRICS statement on Afghanistan is different from the last: “At that time, the Moscow declaration — since Russia was the chair — called for ‘our unwavering support to the people of Afghanistan in its efforts toward building an… independent and prosperous sovereign State’. Words such as ‘independent and prosperous sovereign State’ are missing from the declaration this time…and there is no mention of the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.”
• In an op-ed for the Congress party leaning The Hindustan Times, Rajiv Bhatia, former high commissioner to South Africa, warns that Beijing’s actions reveal the potential vulnerability of BRICS in their commitment to prevent terrorist organizations from using Afghanistan as a terrorist sanctuary: “The Achilles heel of this formulation is China’s apparent inclination… to recognise the Taliban government, support Pakistan… in all its misadventures, and turn a blind eye to whatever damage extremist Islamic groups cause to other countries as long as they stay away from its troubled Uyghur province.”
• In an op-ed for the pro-BJP government The Pioneer, policy analyst Kumardeep Banerjee argues the importance of the BRICS Summit for India amid ongoing threats to its interests in the neighborhood: “It is … a crucial month for India’s outreach to global powers on issues vital for sustained growth and security in India and the neighborhood.”

China

In his speech at the summit entitled “Advance BRICS Cooperation to Meet Common Challenges Together,” Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward five lofty proposals invoking solidarity and mutual benefit on public health, equitable access of vaccines, economic, political and security cooperation, and increased people-to-people exchanges. President Xi also announced that China will donate 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries by the end of 2021. In a press conference on September 10, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated, “As China takes over the BRICS chairmanship next year, we look forward to working hand in hand with BRICS partners to deepen cooperation across the board.”

• In an op-ed for the state-directed China Daily, Swaran Singh, Chairman of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, tries to re-energize the argument that coordination between China and India can go a long way in making BRICS effective: “The rapid economic growth of China…sharpened its contentions with the United States…This has pushed…India closer toward the US and its Indo-Pacific strategy, which in turn has turned BRICS’ economic agenda upside down.”
• In an op-ed for the South China Morning Post, a newspaper based in Hong Kong, Owen Churchill, alumnus of SOAS in London and Fudan University in Shanghai, underlines President Xi’s efforts to make the BRICS an important alternative international force: “As well as unveiling the vaccine donation pledge, Xi used the platform to trumpet the BRICS coalition as an increasingly forceful player in global affairs and to deliver a veiled rejection of criticism from Western governments.”
• In an op-ed for state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times, Yang Sheng, chief reporter at the Global Times, points to the limitations of establishing effective cooperation on Afghanistan: “Although on the surface major powers worldwide share similar stances on Afghanistan, such as the need to restore peace and stability and to prevent the country from becoming a haven for terrorists again, they have different standards on identifying terrorist groups, so it’s hard for them to have effective counter-terrorism cooperation.”

Russia

In his speech at the BRICS Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised Afghanistan as an issue that BRICS countries would have to pay special attention to. While not naming the U.S. or any other western country directly, he claimed the situation “is a direct consequence of irresponsible extraneous attempts to impose someone else’s values on the country and to build ‘democratic structures’ using socio-political engineering techniques, ignoring the historical and national specifics of other nations and the traditions by which they live. All of that leads to… chaos, after which the masterminds behind these experiments hastily retreat leaving their charges behind. The entire international community then has to face the consequences.”

• In an op-ed for the government-funded RT, Jonny Tickle, a British journalist living in Moscow, echoes Putin’s criticism of certain countries’ actions in Afghanistan: “Moscow has approached the situation differently to most Western countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for the world to react based on the facts.”