China’s push to expand BRICS membership falters

India and Brazil are pushing back against a Chinese bid to rapidly expand the BRICS group of emerging markets to grow its political clout and counter the US, officials with knowledge of the matter said.

The countries have raised objections in preparatory talks for a summit in Johannesburg next month where Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will discuss potentially expanding the group to include Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. China has repeatedly lobbied for expansion during those meetings, said the officials, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.

Dozens of other nations are also clamoring to join the alliance, fueling Western concerns the group is moving to become a counterweight to Washington and the European Union.

Brazil wants to avoid expansion partly because of these worries, while India wants strict rules on how and when other nations could move closer to the group, without formally expanding it. Any decision will require consensus among the members who will meet Aug. 22-24.

India and Brazil want to use the summit to discuss potentially bringing in additional countries with observer status, the officials said. South Africa supports discussing different membership options to accommodate this, but doesn’t necessarily oppose expansion, two of the officials said.

“The BRICS leaders meeting last year authorized the expansion of membership, adding more members to BRICS is the political consensus of the five BRICS countries,” China’s foreign ministry said in a response to Bloomberg.

Brazil is working quietly to avoid direct confrontation in the BRICS bloc and resist pressure from China to make it an antagonistic body that challenges the G7, a Brazilian official said. China has reiterated the request for expansion at all preparatory meetings, including two last week which took place virtually, the official said.

Brazil’s proposal is to create “observer” and “partner country” categories. New nations would first move through these categories before being considered for promotion to members, the official said, adding Brazil would support Indonesia beginning the process.