BEIJING (SCMP) - The BRICS countries have backed a Chinese suggestion that the bloc should be expanded, but have not named the candidate countries.
A joint statement by the foreign ministers of the bloc - whose other members are Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa - following an online meeting on Thursday supported its first expansion in a decade, but said they needed to clarify relevant guiding principles, standards and procedures.
Although no candidate countries have been named, earlier this year Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said he wanted his country to join, and analysts have said Indonesia is another likely candidate.
Brazil, Russia, India and China initially formed the bloc in 2009, with South Africa joining in 2010.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi repeated Beijing’s position calling for peace talks and criticized Western countries for providing arms to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.
“Delivering arms cannot bring peace to Ukraine, and pressure by sanctions cannot solve the European security dilemma,” Wang said, according to a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry.
He said China opposes the weaponization of international economic and financial cooperation and coercing other countries to choose sides. He also called for an effort to reduce the spillover effect of the war, which has hit international trade and food supplies “especially in supporting vulnerable developing countries to tide over the difficulties”.
The minister also urged the other BRICS countries to be “independent” and “fair” over Ukraine.
Without naming the United States, Wang called on the bloc to resist the creation of “parallel systems” to divide the world.
He also said BRICS nations should oppose all kinds of unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdiction”.
The 25-point joint statement issued after the meeting included pledges to work together on issues such as global governance, climate change, anti-terrorism, arms control, human rights, and AI technology.
China and Russia also expressed support for the three other members playing a greater role in the United Nations.
The other eight participants were Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand.
Jiang Shixue, director of the Centre for Latin American Studies at Shanghai University, said the expansion of BRICS is seen as an “irreversible trend” by many observers.