Xi To Outline Global Vision At BRICS Summit Today

The 2022 virtual summit of BRICS gets underway today with Chinese host, president Xi Jinping set to push a global system based upon “multilateral cooperation with non-Western styles, forms and principles.”

• The mission statement of the summit reads: "The Chinese side is ready to work with all BRICS partners to take stock of the BRICS cooperation, build consensus and draw up a blueprint under the theme Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development."
• Yesterday at the opening ceremony of the summit, Xi said, "Sanctions are a 'boomerang' or a 'double-edged sword,' and politicizing, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing the global economy, and using the leading position of the international financial and monetary system to impose arbitrary sanctions will harm both oneself and others, and bring disaster to the people of the world."
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Despite all difficulties, BRICS business circles have been consistently enhancing mutually beneficial ties in the areas of trade, finance, & investment. For example, in first 3 months of this year, trade between Russia & BRICS countries increased by 38%."
• Huang Yanzhong, of the Council on Foreign Relations: “BRICS is a kind of diplomatic counteroffensive by China to both the revival of NATO and the increase in Indo-Pacific mechanisms that are designed to keep its power in check.”
• Foreign Policy's James Crabtree: "China is trying to use the BRICS to appeal to the global south post-Ukraine. Might win some support but ultimately given deep internal divisions with India and Brazil it isn't going to get much of anything done."