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Friday, 8 September 2017

What is the significance of BRICS in India’s context? Can the present India-China issues negatively impact the BRICS agenda?





Introduction about BRICS:
  • It began as an acronym coined by investment bankers at Goldman Sachs in 2001to symbolise the engines of economic growth in the twenty first century.
  • BRICS has evolved into something much bigger –a representation of the changing geo-political and geo-economic world order.
Significance to India:
  • It attaches high importance to the BRICS forum for promoting global economic growth, peace and stability.
  • International:
    • Being part of this grouping is the first for India to become a global power.
    • Sheer clout and hegemony expressed by these countries will show a strong voice in international relations and foreign policy issues.
    • Through G4 (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan) and through BRICS it can ask strongly for UNSC reforms to make India as a Permanent Member.
  • Economical:
    • Through BRICS, the countries can have multilateral relations in their local currencies. Thus, weakening the “US Dollar”. This helps all of them directly as the forex is not depleted and their own currencies are strengthened.
    • BRICS Banks will help in infrastructure development of all countries unlike IMF or World Bank.
    • India has also played an important role in the setting up of New Development Bank.
    • India is in utmost need of Investment in Industrial and Agricultural sectors.Indians see BRICS and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was created under its umbrella, as a source for new opportunities.
  • Cooperation:
    • They promote South-South cooperation and North-South dialogue.
    • India sees BRICS as a platform to build multilateral relations with Latin American, African and Asian countries.
    • India has over the years, developed closed strategic relationship with the other member countries.
  • Resolve issues:
    • India has also tried to use BRIC as a forum to resolve the age-old mistrust and complicated relationship with China.
    • Also for India, co-operation with the BRICs is very important in terms of addressing its food and energy security issues, and combating terrorism.
    • It will also help its member countries in fulfilling Sustainable development goals.
Yes, India China issues would affect:-
  • The duration of Doklam standoff betrays trust deficit between India and China – two biggest economies of the BRICS.
  • Their rivalry for global influence and fears of containment by the other threaten to overshadow those aspirations.
  • Indian fears of Chinese encroachment in the Indian Ocean.
    • Recently China announced it had carried out military drills in the western Indian Ocean, advertising its growing presence there.
  • China is also cooperating with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other coastal nations on port access, including for its navy which is a concern for India
  • Indian wariness about the motives behind Beijing’s flagship “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure initiative.
    • That adds to Indian frustration over lopsided trade that saw China record a trade surplus of about $40 billion with India last year.
  • China has thwarted attempts by India to gain permanent membership on the UN Security Council and join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, or to label Pakistani militant Masood Azhar a terrorist.
  • India’s refusal to be a part of the BRI over sovereignty issues, coupled with its broader objections to the transparency and agenda of the project, was a cause for tensions.
  • Beijing resents India’s providing a base for the Dalai Lama, and complained bitterly when the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was permitted to visit an Indian region claimed by China earlier this year.
  • A major challenge for India is likely to arise from China’s plan for a “BRICS-Plus” or “Friends of BRICS” groupingto include Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Mexico to an expanded version of BRICS.
  • Beijing fears what it sees as a U.S.-led encirclement of China by Washington’s allies and neighbors, including India and Japan.
  • All these insecurities show that BRICS is loomed with the issues of these countries
No it will not affect because:-
  • India and China lie at the helm of this new order and they realise the importance of it.
  • BRICS grouping holds considerable allure for both countries, underscoring their support for regular meetings over the past decade to discuss economic concerns and issues such as climate change.
  • Some observers see a multilateral arena like BRICS as being one of the few places where the world’s two most populous countries can work together despite tensions
  • Both countries cannot hold the other three, as in South Africa, Russia and Brazil, hostage to our narrow nationalistic rivalries.
  • The summit is a great opportunity to communicate face-to-face and exchange views on the two countries problems and contradictions and the solutions to them.
  • The fact that India and China released statements indicating disengagement at Doklam just a few days before the BRICS summit shows a realisation on both sides that the opportunities in cooperation for a greater say on the world stage far outweigh individual territorial ambitionsthat either of them might have.
  • lack of coherence among BRICS nations, especially India and China, has often been over emphasized in western media outlets.
Way ahead:
  • Indiaon the other hand must continue to advocate for an increased joint collaboration with China in multi-lateral institutions,
Conclusion:
  • Russia, Brazil and South Africa will surely count on India and China to speak in one voice in the upcoming summit and showcase the points of convergences among the BRICS nations to the world. In line with the theme of the summit, which is “Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future”, India and China must use BRICS to build a house

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