China News Service, September 11. Title: When it comes to BRICS, Xi Jinping emphasizes three "big"
From September 12th to 13th, President Xi Jinping will go to India to attend the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Meeting.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the BRICS cooperation mechanism. After 20 years of development, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has become the golden signature and most important platform for unity and cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries in the world today.
"Big bonanza", "big factory" and "big market". At the BRICS leaders' online summit in September last year, President Xi Jinping used three "big" words to express the weight and potential of the BRICS countries.
The size of the gold brick lies in its size.
From an initial investment concept by Goldman Sachs, to a cooperation mechanism composed of four major emerging market countries, to its increasingly attractive and successful expansion, the "Big BRIC" has now grown into the first phalanx of the global South.
Currently, the BRICS countries include 11 official member countries and 10 partner countries. Their total population accounts for nearly half of the world, their total economic output accounts for about 30% of the world's, and they contribute more than 50% to global economic growth.
Observation and analysis show that this is not only an increase in numbers, but also a structural change, marking that the global South, represented by the BRICS, is accelerating from the "margin" of the international stage to the "center".
"The BRICS countries account for nearly half of the world's population, and they are mainly countries in the Global South. The BRICS mechanism itself is very representative." Lou Chunhao, deputy director of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out in an interview with China News Network's "Xi Yandao" that the BRICS branching out is based on the common pursuit, conforms to the general trend of world peace and development, and also conforms to the rise of the global South.
The greatness of BRIC lies in its openness.
Openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation are the consistent distinctive features of the BRICS countries.
President Xi Jinping once pointed out that the BRICS countries are not a closed club or an exclusive "small circle", but a big family that helps each other and good partners for win-win cooperation.
Over the years, from the establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank to the establishment of the China-BRICS Artificial Intelligence Development and Cooperation Center, from the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the synergy of BRICS pragmatic cooperation, to the launch of a series of wide-ranging and multi-level BRICS people-to-people and cultural exchange activities...the open BRICS has produced numerous fruits through unity and cooperation.
Last year, at the BRICS Leaders’ Online Summit, President Xi Jinping once again emphasized “the need to uphold the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.”
Lou Chunhao said that the BRICS countries come from all over the world, and each has its own national conditions, political systems, development paths, etc. There are some differences. However, development is the biggest common denominator of the BRICS countries. The BRICS countries adhere to the concept of harmony in diversity to build consensus and achieve tangible results of cooperation.
The bigness of BRIC lies in ambition.
Currently, changes in the world, the times, and history are unfolding in an unprecedented way, and human society has reached a critical juncture.
In August 2023, at the closing ceremony of the 2023 BRICS Business Forum, President Xi Jinping asked four questions in succession - should we persist in cooperation and integration, or move towards division and confrontation? Should we work together to maintain peace and stability, or slide into the abyss of a "new cold war"? Will we prosper through openness and inclusiveness, or will we sink into depression amid bullying? Should mutual trust be enhanced through exchanges and mutual learning, or should pride and prejudice cloud one's conscience?
"Which direction the pendulum of history heads depends on our choices."
The BRICS countries represent the collective rise of emerging powers, but this rise is not to challenge anyone, but to change the old logic that only a few countries have the final say in international rules.
"In recent years, BRICS countries have played an increasingly important role in the field of global governance and become active promoters and contributors to the reform and improvement of the global governance system." Lou Chunhao said.
The blacksmith must be hard himself. Only by taking care of your own affairs can you better deal with external challenges.
After 20 years of development, BRICS cooperation has gradually entered the deep-water zone. As President Xi Jinping said, the closer the BRICS countries cooperate, the more confidence they will have to deal with external risks and challenges, the more methods they will have, and the better the results will be.
Standing at a new development node, the "Big BRIC" is more united, open and promising, and is a positive and constructive force for good on the international stage.
