The BRICS Summit recently concluded in the Hainan Island city of Sanya underscored the phenomenon that the world seems to have reached an age of “alliances.” The media covering the event put great store in the power of the BRICS grouping but they could be found guilty of overstatement. For example, one media outlet claimed that the birth of BRICS – an alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – implies that Western domination has become history. Another suggested that BRICS was now powerful enough to balance the Western alliance. Yet another hoped that BRICS should talk with the West in the international arena with one voice. All this overplay kills the facts.
Viewed objectively, BRICS today is in its initial stage: a loose grouping of nations that co-operate on specific issues, case by case. They do not sign treaties of the kind usually signed by alliances and they can assemble and disband at any moment. Therefore, they are not as mighty as depicted by the media.
On one hand, the nature of the BRICS grouping reflects the development stage of the participating nations. For example, the most tangible interests among the five nations are that China requires energy and resources from the other members while it pours a sea of cheap commodities into their markets. The pattern is obviously unsustainable. China and India are on alert to each other due to trade and territorial disputes and their seesawing balance of power. This alert psych is also evident between China and Russia and is linked to energy co-operation. Brazil is a member of BRICS as well as being in the camp of rich countries. It complains about China’s cheap products and is openly critical of the RMB exchange rate.
But these are not the most important issues. Even the relatively successful alliances around the world like EU and NATO are crowded out by the contradictions among member states. No example is more typical than the military intervention in Libya, in which France and Germany are openly at odds. Importantly, members of BRICS are yet to identify a stable and enduring nexus of mutual interest. Their common interests are mostly short-term and tactical. We should not forget that the EU started with the European Coal and Steel Community. It is exactly this supranational executive body that the major European countries established to remove, first of all, trade barriers in basic goods like coal and steel, that layed the foundations for eliminating war and uniting Europe. The BRICS nations are searching for a nexus of this kind.
And finding it has become a prerequisite for the further development and strengthening of the alliance whose mechanisms have been formed quickly and efficiently. The recent summit made tangible gains in pushing for reform of the international monetary system, reform of international financial institutions, and interoperable home currency trade settlement. The summit also jointly opposed using force in Libya and the Arab world and urged reform of the UN Security Council. These views, however, are not held exclusively by the BRICS countries within which there is also disagreement. For example, India and Brazil disagree about reform of the Security Council. And the incumbent Permanent Members of the Security Council do not necessarily agree among themselves on the reform. Crucial obstacles remain. Where is the way out?
If the EU experience is any guide, a common market with free flows of personnel, goods and currency is the most important nexus for member states. This has significant relevance to BRICS. In comparison with ASEAN, BRICS has great potential for economic cooperation. China is the economic giant in the group with the second largest GDP in the world while the other countries are relatively small in economic strength. Moreover, since the group is few in number, dealing with the pluralization of interests and settlement of disputes will be less complicated. These attributes could really bind the countries together, and turn the five into a “bloc” rather than the loose group they are now.
One more thing is worth mentioning. As China is absolutely superior in economic terms, it should make some concessions to enable a nexus of interests to be developed. In other words, it could provide other members with the convenience of a free-ride in areas where it will make a difference.
Cao Xin is Chief Journalist of Southern Weekend
