Founding member China vows to continue strengthening BRICS

Chinese musicians play traditional tunes of the BRICS members with guzheng, a folk Chinese stringed instrument, during the BRICS Dialogue on Civilizations event in Kazan, Russia, on Sept 24. (CAO YANG/XINHUA)

As a founding member, China is willing to work with its partners to continue improving the BRICS cooperation mechanism and creating a better future for human society, a senior Chinese diplomat has said.

In the 18 years since the establishment of the mechanism, China and its BRICS partners have always worked hand in hand to move forward bravely against all odds and played an important role on the international stage carving out a path of mutually beneficial cooperation, according to Zhang Hanhui, the Chinese Ambassador to Russia.

The past years saw the rapid development of emerging-market economies and developing countries. Some major powers, however, have regained their Cold War mentality, wielded the stick of sanctions, and instigated camp confrontation, Zhang said.

"When the world is at the historical crossroads of unilateralism or multilateralism, President Xi Jinping has put forward the concept of a community of a shared future for mankind, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative to contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to solving the global peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit, and governance deficit," Zhang noted.

The ambassador emphasized that being the founding member, China will work with its partners to continuously improve the BRICS cooperation mechanism, continue to gather the consensus of the Global South, advocate and practice the above-mentioned three global initiatives, and make BRICS contributions to creating a better future for human society.

The historic expansion last year has created a milestone in the development of the BRICS.

At the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod in June this year, all parties highly praised the important role of the BRICS mechanism and the results of its expansion and believed that more and more countries joining the BRICS cooperation will help accelerate the process of multipolarization in the world and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.

The Chinese envoy said the BRICS countries share common views of international order, security, and development. They are believers in defending multilateralism, maintaining common security, promoting common development, and improving global governance.

"The expanded BRICS accounts for nearly half of the global population and one-fifth of global trade, and their total economic volume has surpassed the Group of Seven in terms of purchasing power parity," said Zhang, stressing that China and other BRICS members are important economic and trade partners, and their import and export trade has maintained steady growth.

What's more, the BRICS countries play an important role on the international stage. At the end of last year, the leaders of the BRICS countries held a special meeting on Palestine and Israel, and jointly defended the rights and interests of developing countries in multilateral mechanisms such as the Group of 20, giving a strong BRICS voice.

The diplomat while highlighting the upcoming meeting between President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said Russia is an important BRICS partner of China.

"I believe that BRICS cooperation will further enrich the connotation of China-Russia strategic cooperation and inject new momentum into the development of relations between the two countries."

He said the two presidents have met more than 40 times on various occasions in recent years, establishing good working relations and deep personal friendship. The heads of state of the two countries have also maintained close communication on strategic issues such as bilateral relations, the international situation and global governance.

"China is pleased to see that Russia has made great progress in its work as the BRICS chair this year," Zhang said, adding that China will, as always, support the Russian side in fulfilling the duties of the chairmanship and jointly promote the fruitful results of the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan from Tuesday to Thursday.