BRICS bringing India and China closer together
President Vladimir Putin held meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first day of the BRICS Summit in Kazan.
The two countries, founding members of the BRICS group, aim to move beyond bilateral disputes to advance the unifying agenda of this coalition of like-minded nations, Kommersant reports.
Shortly before the BRICS summit, signs of a thaw in relations between China and India emerged, previously overshadowed by a conflict across the LAC in the Himalayas.
It was announced on the eve of the Kazan summit that Beijing and New Delhi had reached an agreement on patrolling the line of actual control in Ladakh region, which is expected to help ease tensions in the region.
Indian expert Atul Aneja, a member of the advisory board at the Centre of Geo-economics for the Global South, emphasizes that reducing geopolitical tensions among member states should be one of BRICS’ goals.
Attention must be paid to issues involving China and India (two key members of BRICS) such as resolving and marking of Indo Tibet Border and vacation of entire areas of Ladakh occupied by PLA.
Similarly, Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved in a proxy war in Yemen, despite a recent warming in relations. On the African continent, tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia—two new BRICS members—persist due to the construction of a major dam on the Nile River.
The conclusion is clear: BRICS needs an internal mechanism to address tensions among member states, the Indian expert explained.
Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the South Asia and Pacific Region Group at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that “India and China are returning to a more or less normal situation that existed before the coronavirus pandemic and the Galwan Valley incident.”
He added, “It’s important to note that before these events, relations between India and China were not strained. Modi visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, and subsequently, Xi Jinping visited India.
Borders were then closed due to the pandemic, and a skirmish occurred, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indians and four Chinese.
Now, there is an opportunity to improve relations, which is positive,” the expert said.
