Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
New Delhi: A new history has been created on the global stage for the last few days. BRICS, that is, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have stunned the world by united against the pressure of Western countries. These countries, earlier, looked isolated due to their mutual differences, now together have emerged as a strong force in front of the western world. This is not a simple diplomatic step, but a major change in the global economy and the equation of power. Come, let’s try to understand the whole story of this historic turn.
The story started with Russia in 2022
In the last few years, western countries, especially the US and the European Union, put a variety of pressure on BRICS countries. In 2022, Western countries confiscated Russia’s foreign exchange reserves of about $ 300 billion, causing a stir in the whole world. This caused a major setback to Global South, that is, developing countries and realized that their properties are not safe in western countries. The incident gave a new direction to BRICS countries and intensified the campaign to reduce dependence on US dollar, ie ‘de-dollars’.
BRICS countries have shown strong solidarity in the last few months.
Heavy tariff imposed on China and India
Meanwhile, the US intensified its business war against China, in which heavy tariffs were imposed on Chinese goods. In response, China also took similar steps against the US. In addition, the US first imposed 25 per cent and then 50 per cent tariffs to buy Russian oil on India, while it encouraged India to buy oil from Russia to stabilize the global market. Brazil was also imposed 50 percent tariff, in response to which Brazilian President Lula Da Silva clearly stated that his country would not tolerate this ‘punishment’ quietly.
South Africa and Brazil also threatened
The US State Ministry released a report against South Africa, alleging violating the rights of racial minorities there. South Africa strongly criticized it and called it ‘contradictory’. In addition, the head of NATO threatened India, China and Brazil to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine issue, otherwise there would be restrictions. The European Union also put pressure on India not to buy Russian oil, while it itself is importing energy resources from Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister S.K. Jaishankar.
BRICS responded to everything with full force
In response to all these pressures from Western countries and especially America, BRICS countries further strengthened their unity. Recently, many big diplomatic steps have been taken within a few days, which is proof that BRICs are more organized and powerful than ever.
- India’s activism: India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Dowal suddenly visited Russia and met President Putin. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Brazilian President Lula Da Silva over phone and targeted the trade between the two countries to $ 20 billion by 2030. In addition, Modi will soon go to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, which will be his first visit to China in 7 years. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar also met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and discussed increasing bilateral trade.
- Russia’s initiative: Russian President Putin spoke to the phone to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Siril Ramafosa within 24 hours. This dialogue was a major step towards further strengthening mutual cooperation between BRICS countries.
- China’s stance: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India after several years, indicating that the two countries are standing together against American pressure. China also made it clear on the platform of BRICS that this organization is made not for conflict, but for cooperation.
- Response of Brazil and South Africa: Brazilian President Lula dismissed the US pressure and said, “We do not want any emperor.” He planned to discuss the impacts of tariffs with leaders of India and China using the chairmanship of BRICS. South Africa also emphasized its sovereignty, responding to America’s allegations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
Global economy has a new twist
BRICS is the biggest step of countries to reduce dependence on US dollars. These countries are now promoting trade in their local currencies. For example, oil trade between India and Russia is taking place in rupees, while China and Russia have started settling their 80 per cent of their trade in rubles and yuan. BRICS has started work towards strengthening systems such as its New Development Bank and BRICS Pay, so that they can avoid Western financial mechanisms such as Swift. However, experts believe that the domination of the dollar will not end quickly, as it still handles 80% of the global trade. Nevertheless, BRICS is growing sharply towards making the global economy more inclusive.
Why this emergence of Brics being considered historical?
BRICS is now not just an economic alliance, but has become a force that is challenging the uniform world of Western countries. These countries are working towards a multiplaler world, where no one country dominates the whole world. This unity of India, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa is not only protecting their sovereignty, but also inspiring other countries of Global South. This unity of BRICS can bring major changes in global trade, diplomacy and economy. It remains to be seen whether BRICS countries can reach this story with their solidarity or not.
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