The Brics Summit of 9 September may have seemed a low-key virtual event. But consensus was during moments to do with anti-terrorism and Afghanistan rather than Covid-19 vaccines or China’s presence in Africa.
Socioeconomic themes relating to Covid-19 were led by China’s President Xi Jinping, with not much by way of a Brics collective strategy.
To be fair, President Cyril Ramaphosa did try his best to get real cooperation going on Covid-19, stating Brics needs to “ensure equal access to Covid-19 vaccines … because that is the only way in which we can collectively respond to this pandemic that engulfs the world”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supportive, but China, Russia and Brazil (President Jair Bolsonaro, the “Trump of the Tropics”, is an anti-vaxxer) weren’t on the same page.
There’s an irony to the annual Brics summits. The same facts about how influential a force the bloc is in the global political economy are repeated by Xi, who is the only state leader who can really claim this. Each year, Xi reiterates that Brics makes up 42% of the world’s population (close to half), 24% of global GDP and 16% of world trade. This year was no exception.
Annually China claims to be a developing state, while being the second-largest economy in the world. China contributed 18% to global GDP in 2020 (staggering, if we consider Covid-19 originated in Wuhan). This year, statistical predictions are that an extra 1% will be added to that contribution.
The sad-but-true fact is that Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa make up a mere 6% of that contribution to global GDP. This piece of Brics propaganda by Xi that “we have made solid progress towards pragmatism, innovation and win-win cooperation” props up an image of Brics that belies the reality of “Brics@China.inc” when it comes to global GDP contributions.
No matter how much the Brics summit leaders (and our government) harp on about global multilateral institutional transformation (again a theme of this year’s summit) the institutional terrain remains unchanged.
Arguably the institution most critically in need of reform, the UN Security Council, remains unreformed. China weighs in heavily, but not in favour of reform, even if it is mentioned in the Brics annual declarations. While the summit leaders solemnly swear to sing off the same struggle song sheet towards progressive development, it is clear that Brics leaders’ solidarity is mostly skin-deep.
