By Arnaz Mallick
The Sixteenth BRICS summit this year, hosted by Putin in Kazan, Russia, has demonstrated that, with the support of multiple Asian and Middle-Eastern countries, Russia has grown to be an increasingly less ostracised global power since the outbreak of War in Ukraine, playing host to 36 countries, including India and China. Thirteen nations have been added as BRICS’ partner countries, the Asian ones notably being Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The BRICS summit means a variety of things for India’s BJP government under Modi’s leadership, following the Prime Minister’s visits to Poland, Ukraine, and the United States all in the last four months. The summit witnessed the adoption of the Kazan Declaration, which expressed ‘deep concern’ at the effects of western sanctions on the world economy and global trade, as well as alarm regarding violence in occupied Palestinian territory.
Meetings between Putin and Modi signal a strengthening of their relations, despite Russia’s alliance with India’s rival, China, with whom relations are growing increasingly tense. Among the most significant outcomes of the BRICS summit was the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping — this meeting of theirs is the first since the 2020 border dispute between China and India, and marks a strengthening in the countries’ strained diplomatic relations as the leaders resolve their four-year impasse.
Modi and the Indian Government’s part in easing their country’s diplomatic relations with China has significant implications for the balance of power on the global stage. In a purely economic sense, economic ties are a strong motive for the amelioration of Sino-Indian tensions — in this year itself, China has been India’s biggest trading partner and its largest source of goods and industrial products, including electronics, machinery, and chemicals in particular, bilateral trade having surpassed US$100 million in the most recent financial year. For China, partnership with India means a further dominance of their role on the global stage, expanding global influence.
In terms of geopolitical competition, alliance between India and China indicates a rising pressure on Western powers and their global importance. the BRICS summit has demonstrated that Russia has maintained a number of significant international partners in the Global South, and more specifically, Asia. Southeast Asian countries who are also members and constituents of ASEAN, such as Malaysia and Thailand, have also expressed interest in joining the BRICS multilateral forum. Malaysia having formally applied to join, moreover, indicates how countries with a growing economic presence in Asia and ASEAN are gradually placing less support on the West, both through an alliance with China and Russia and the growing autonomy granted to them through economic development through mutual trade in sectors such as energy, food security, and healthcare. Malaysia’s interest in BRICS is especially pertinent given that it will hold the position of ASEAN chairman in 2025. Trade turnover between Russia and ASEAN countries has grown 10% in the last year, despite challenges in tariff barriers.
Forming an alliance of multiple Asian countries with BRICS is an understandable decision from both economic and geopolitical standpoints. It promotes a more equal distribution of economic prosperity and influence in the global system, and gives the countries of the Global South a more prominent and decisive role on the global stage. A central point of interest for several Asian countries attending the BRICS summit was that of reducing their dependency on the US dollar as trade currency, as Russia and China have encouraged challenging the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Sino-Indian alliance, as reaffirmed by President Xi, would promote a ‘multi polarisation’ of international relations — it is this possibility of a multipolar world, with China and India as partners, that poses a threat to countries like the US, who are increasingly wary of Chinese dominance and support of Russia. Moreover, the willingness of several Southeast Asian ASEAN countries to participate in the BRICS summit and align themselves as partners with China and Russia demonstrates how a multitude of increasingly influential Asian countries with rapidly developing economies are growing open to alignment with superpowers diametrically opposed to the West. The BRICS group now constitutes 45% of the global population and 25% of global GDP.
The summit also holds interesting implications in the wake of the US election and Trump’s presidency, as Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar has expressed a willingness to work alongside the Trump administration, having stated that India is not one of the countries that is ‘nervous about the US.’ This, paired with India’s alliance with Russia and China, indicates how such alliances are ushering in a more multipolar global system of power, with Asian countries such as India at the forefront of economic development and a range of ties with other countries. The duality of such countries’ foreign policies, navigating partnership with both East and West, is indicative of how countries such as India are
But with Trump set to return to power in his coming term, and the strengthening of BRICS ties and its internal cohesion, with reaffirmed friendships between China and Russia, the BRICS summit was indicative of an affirmation of a wider variety of power on the global stage.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.
Image from the BBC Website