By CAI CHUNLIN
AS BRICS celebrates the start of its second decade this year, the priority for future cooperation should be clearly stressed at this crucial time. It is more important to consolidate internal cooperation than to simply expand the number of member states. In my opinion, while carrying forward the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, the mechanism should expand its circle of friends through the model of ‘BRICS Plus’ so as to makea greater contribution to the creation of a community of shared future for mankind.
Internal Relations Sets a Solid Foundation
Maintaining mutual strategic trust and sticking to cooperation between member states is the bedrock of the BRICS mechanism. Cooperation over the past decade has built mutual political trust and tacit understanding between group members that are hard to establish but easy to destroy. Faced with an unclear vision of the world and doubts about the BRICS mechanism from the international community, a discrepancy in strategic ideas could shake the foundations of the BRICS cooperation and even ruin the hard-won achievements of the past decade. It is not rare for the BRICS countries to have differring opinions on certain issues. But the key lies in the members’ joint determination to help the mechanismfunction more effectively through negotiations, communication, and discussion.
An advancement of internal relationships is the best refuting of those doubts. The development of the BRICS mechanism relies heavily on sound cooperation ties between its members. Opposition has never cease since the day the concept of BRICS was posited. Goldman Sachs, for one, shut down its BRICS fund in October 2016 to invest in other emerging markets. The move has been interpreted bysome media outlets andacademics asa sign that BRICS is losing its attraction and that the BRICS era is over. In the face of this, BRICS countries should cherish the mechanism and strive to maintain the mechanism’s vitality and global influence by enhancingthe efficiency and effectiveness of their cooperation.
Moreover, synergizing and interactingwith the development strategies of each member is a key part in promoting internal relations. At present, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa are aligning their economic strategies relatively well and are actively taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative. China-India synergy is vital for the group’s internal relations. India has developed two projects as part of its plan on peripheral relations. The Spice Route Project aims to share the heritage of an ancienttrading route travelled by merchants and explorers in search of spices, which made its way through 31 countries in Asia and Europe that used to have close trading ties with India. Project Mausam is named after Indian sailors who used seasonal monsoonswinds to quicken their journey. The voyages, which usually encompassed regions around the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Peninsula, and east Africa, allowed for culturalexchanges and trade.
To some extent, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative can be aligned with the abovementioned Indian projects. It is a priority for both sides to hold dialogues under the BRICS framework to link their regional development initiatives. Moreover, mutual understanding should be given to the projects and a consensus should be reachedso that the projects can be mutually complementary and reinforce each other.
Not a Numbers Game
Recently, some critics have suggestedthatit’s urgent for BRICS to accept new members from 11 emerging markets who are also members of the G20. Meanwhile, other critics have advised including Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Egypt, and South Korea in this mechanism to expand it into ‘BRICS TIMES’. In their eyes, differences among the BRICS countries are increasing. As China makes up nearly 70 percentof the GDP growth of the group countries, having new members may be a solution to settling internal disagreements while expanding consensus.
On the other hand, some emerging economies have the desire to join the BRICS mechanism in a bid to boost their own economic development, which reflects the platform’s rising attraction. Nevertheless, a mere increase in the number of member states might cause slower implementations, wider divergences of views, and more issues left unresolved.
Various kinds of cooperation can be carried out between emerging economies and BRICS. In my opinion, emerging economies could board the express train of achievement that BRICS has made and shareits benefits with the group members to realize a coordinated development. Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the acronym ‘BRICS’, doesn’t favor an expansion of the BRICS grouping. A platform for cooperation, BRICS is expected to extend its collaboration with more emerging economies in wider sectors, but in the immediate future, BRICS is not advised to enlarge its number.
Substantially Upgrading Internal Relations
Speaking of promoting substantial collaboration, cooperative modelsare urgently needed to focusing on joint progress. All BRICS members should play a leading role in stimulating the progress of emerging economies and sharing benefits with them. Efforts can be made in five areas.
First, a secretariat to beef up BRICS cooperation and development, and a fund to support international industrial collaboration,should be set up, with the focus on increasing industrial cooperation with emerging economies and generating more substantial benefits in these markets.
Second, prompt responses should be given to major issues and risks while a coping mechanism in this regard should be established, so as to pool strengths and avoid losing group cohesion.
Third, providing a mechanism to facilitate benefit compensation and equilibration would be helpful in resolving internal contradictions within the BRICS cooperation. Based on this, compensation shall be given to parties suffering the loss ofshort-term benefits while communication and coordination shall be strengthened in carrying out collaborations.
Fourth, multinationals are encouraged to play a more active role by virtue of better synergizing themselves with the BRICS mechanism and perfecting their global service system.
Last, an all-round coordination mechanism should be established by which an integrated clearance system will be adopted among the five countries to facilitate trade, investment, and tourism.
As an integral whole, BRICS should conductits cooperation like a concentric circle. The model of “BRICS plus other countries” is advised to expand the circle of friends. In other word, the five members – the core of the group – should expand their cooperation with other economies as a whole. Other emerging economies may take part in the cooperation under the framework of “five plus N”, which would guarantee the independency, autonomy, flexibility, and effectiveness of the BRICS mechanism so as to inject positive energy into global governance.
Advocating a modern philosophy featuring reciprocity and win-win cooperation, the BRICS mechanism has outshined obsolete concepts and models in international relations. Openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation – the foundation of the group’s cooperation – have continually intensified over the past decade. Today, it is necessary to instill this spirit in people in each of the BRICS countries to further unleash the vitality for internal cooperation. More moves embodying the BRICS spirit are expected to contribute wisdom and solutions in the building of a community of shared future for mankind.
CAI CHUNLIN, PhD in Economics, is a professor anddirector of the Center for BRICS Studies at Guangdong University of Technology. He is also a council member of the China Council for the BRICS Think Tank Cooperation, and president oftheGuangdong Emerging Economies Society and its Belt and RoadInstitute.