The
BRICS countries, from left to right: Brazil, Russia, India
China, and
South Africa, account for 40 percent of the global population and have
economies with explosive growth. How to translate that growth
into real
influence is a challenge, as the G-7 jealously guards
its
prerogatives.
Huanqiu, People's
Republic of China
The BRICS Countries
Must Be Patient with Diminishing West
With the BRICS countries - China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and India - feeling their oats, with economies that are booming, the leaders of these nations are forming an alliance of sorts. But according to this editorial from China's state-controlled Huanqiu, as the influence of the G7 diminishes and the BRICS countries rise, great care must be taken to 'permit' the West to come to terms with the new reality.
Western centralism will be
very difficult to maintain in the long term, but the BRICS countries are neither willing
nor able to establish an alternative political and economic axis. This reflects
the genuine state of the global system. The United States will no longer have
the "final say" as it did in the past; but there is still no one that
can fill its shoes. Everywhere one looks, the world is undergoing massive
transformation.
"Change" is not a
deliberate pursuit of the BRICS countries, so we must wait and see if the United
States can unite the West and intentionally prevent it. Despite the rapidly
growing strength of the BRICS countries, this alone doesn't equate with power.
That is a transformation which will only come gradually. Generally speaking, these
countries are much more patient when compared to the great old economic
powerhouses. They are very wary of being called, “The anti-Western Alliance.”
The restraint of the
newly-developing countries and the magnanimity of the West ensure the stability
of our world - and both are indispensable. The population of the BRICS countries
is so great that denying them a greater capacity to develop cannot be justified,
but at the same time, they must take into account of the feelings and
experience of the developed countries.
It’s evident the BRICS
countries are interested in more that just talking about cooperation. The five
countries have taken a pragmatic step forward by laying out banking cooperation
plan. A majority of pubic opinion in the five countries support more political
and diplomatic coordination among the BRICS countries, and approved of the Sanya Declaration,
which, without naming NATO, criticized the Alliance for bombing Libya. Their united
stand is the strongest opposition to the Western air strikes began on behalf of
the Libyan opposition.
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Among the five BRICS
countries, China has the greatest overall national strength and although
relatively low key, the most persistent diplomacy. This will help influence the
other BRICS countries and avoid a mechanism that would be identified from the
outset as oppossed to the West. But the characteristics of Russia, Brazil
and the other countries in their turn, have a relatively strong influence on
China. We believe that more sincere expression won’t necessarily bring greater
risk. The BRICS mechanism may become something of a classroom in which China will
be able to break new ground.
Western-centralism must undergo
a generational transformation - and the West must be permitted to gradually come
to terms with this. It's only natural that friction will develop with the
emerging countries. There is nothing shocking about this. The newly-emerging
countries are not challenging the West - but they aren't yelling, “Long Live
the West,” either. If the West can’t manage to come to terms with reality, then
the world is in big trouble.
First of all, the power
of the BRICS countries comes from their economic growth. The long-term
instability of these countries is now in the past, and they are now settling
down and concentrating on development. Their explosive growth is no different
that the growth the West experienced when it was on a rise. Sooner or later,
the aggregate economic output of the BRICS countries is expected to overtake the
G7. This will have a greater impact on the global system than the rise of the Soviet
Union once did.
But there's a big difference
between the BRICS countries and the former Soviet Union. The BRICSs don't utilize
the tools of political expansion or the threat of force. The BRICS countries may
represent a turning point in human history, promoting peaceful rather than
cut-throat competition as the only principle for reshaping the global system.
This may sound a little idealistic, but given the strength of the BRICS
countries, the risk and cost of challenging this principle will tend to grow,
and cooperation among the BRICS countries will reinforce this trend.
Nevertheless,
competition among the BRICS countries is also a reality -and of the five
countries, none have made strengthening relations among the BRICSs a priority. But
that shouldn't impede the five from coordinating their actions on core issues
such as their right to development and world peace.
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The European Union's unified
diplomacy is frequently frustrated. It is entirely possible that the BRICS
countries could do better. Their ability to harmonize their positions is
certainly no worse, as their unified voice concerning the Libya issue amply
demonstrates. That's a pretty good start.
The BRICS countries shouldn't
expect their system of cooperation to address lots of detailed matters. Rather,
it should be a forum for strategic cooperation to prevent developed countries
from committing all kinds of self-serving abuse their and unfairly using their
leverage. The population of the BRICS countries accounts for 40 percent of
the world’s population; safeguarding their rights to development will certainly
be a trying and complicated matter.
