BRICS' Grand Facade: Delhi's Red Carpet Masks Deep Divisions
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent red-carpet reception in Delhi for the BRICS summit, his first visit to India in seven years, served as a potent symbol of thawing relations between the regional rivals. This public display of reconciliation follows a deadly 2020 military clash along the disputed Himalayan border, which tragically claimed the lives of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed not only President Xi but also Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the carefully orchestrated optics of restored high-level contacts and renewed flights hinted at a diplomatic breakthrough, even as both nations quietly vie for leadership amidst shifting global power dynamics.
The summit convenes at a critical juncture, with the BRICS grouping—originally conceived in 2009 as a counterweight to Western dominance—now expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This formidable bloc now accounts for half of the global population, theoretically posing a significant challenge to forums like the US-dominated G7. Yet, this numerical strength is belied by profound internal fractures; the very expansion that grants it demographic weight has also introduced new layers of disunity. Notably, Iran was bombing Saudi Arabia and the UAE earlier this year, a stark reminder of the volatile geopolitics simmering within the group’s ranks.
These inherent contradictions were further underscored by the BRICS foreign ministers' failure to agree on a joint statement during their May meeting in Delhi. Such discord directly challenges the bloc's aspiration for a unified voice on the global stage. Reuters' report on the summit's anticipated outcome—a generic joint declaration condemning unilateral war without naming any specific country—reveals the extent of the internal consensus problem. As Jiang Shixue, vice-president of the expert committee of the China thinktank Council for BRICs cooperation (China), aptly observed, the 11 members “cannot speak with one voice on many issues,” suggesting that the “only solution is to continuously strengthen political consensus.” This pragmatic assessment highlights the bloc's struggle to translate its collective economic and demographic power into cohesive diplomatic action.
Beyond the symbolism, this summit illuminates the strategic divergences that continue to shape BRICS’ trajectory. China, for instance, has actively sought to expand BRICS power, positioning it as a direct counterweight to the United States, particularly in the wake of policies under Donald Trump that saw global tariff wars and retreats from multilateral institutions. India, conversely, has adopted a more cautious approach, viewing BRICS primarily as a bridge between diverse global interests rather than solely an anti-Western instrument. This fundamental difference in strategic intent, coupled with the backdrop of ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and rising US-China tensions, significantly tests the bloc’s capacity to forge common ground and project a unified vision. The Delhi red carpet, then, while symbolizing reconciliation between two Asian giants, simultaneously draped over the deep and persistent fissures within the ambitious BRICS alliance.