China bid to hijack BRICS fails, Indian stamp on declaration

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, June 23: The 14^th BRICS Summit would go down as the most insignificant multilateral meeting this year.

The China hosted virtual summit looked a mere formality where heads of the states of the five countries made their remarks, reflecting their worldviews at a time when the world is most polarized.

In the run up to the summit, China sought to position the virtual meeting to send out grand messages to the western world, particularly the US.

But the joint declaration of the BRICS-2022 stood by the Indian articulation on the Russian-Ukraine war that the territorial sovereignty must be respected and dialogue should be the way to resolve the intriguing and outstanding issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this three-nation European tour and the Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had very succinctly articulated the Indian position on the war between Russia and Ukraine amid pressure from the western world to take a clear side that violence is not the way out and the sparring parties must return to the discussion table.

“BRICS countries support talks between Russia and Ukraine. We commit to respect sovereignty, territorial integrity of all States. We stress our commitment to peaceful resolution of differences, disputes,” said the BRICS declaration.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin used the forum for his rhetoric to hit out at the western sanctions against his country.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping warned of the arms race in the world.

Both the heads of the states spoke on predictable lines.

But contrasting the BRICS Summit with the Tokyo Quad in-person meeting, the difference look stark.

While the Quad summit gave a definitive direction to the engagement of the countries in the Indo-Pacific in strategic and economic domains, BRICS remained a forum for speeches.

The Indian stamp on the BRICS declaration was visible also on the mention of Afghanistan.

“The Afghan territory should not to be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists. We strongly support a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan while emphasising respect for its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity,” added the BRICS declaration.

India seemingly approached the BRICS for its economic relevance given that Russia is now supplying oil at a discounted rates while Indian companies are taking place there vacated by their western counterparts.

However, China is the biggest beneficiary of the western boycott of Russia, making windfall gains in all the sphere.

The financial clout of BRICS is now suspect for India to hope to gain from, given that China has more worries at home to address then to splurge by funding development works elsewhere.

Brazil and South Africa aren’t yet out of the woods after the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with their economy. Russia is now a global pariah.