More Asian countries want to join Putin and Xi in expanded Brics

As Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Li Qiang wrapped up separate meetings in Southeast Asia this week, the two Brics economic bloc partners met with a region eager to join a group seen as a hedge against Western-led institutions.

In an interview with Chinese media ahead of Li's visit to Malaysia, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declared his intention to apply for the bloc after it doubled in size this year by luring southern countries with offers access to financing but also by offering them a political place. independent of the influence of Washington.

Thailand, a U.S. treaty ally, announced its own bid last month to join the Brics, named after members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South. The bloc represents a South-South cooperation framework that Thailand has long wanted to be part of, Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa told reporters last week.

For countries seeking to mitigate economic risks from intensifying competition between the United States and China, joining the BRICS is an attempt to overcome some of these tensions. But it is also a way of signaling growing frustration with the U.S.-led international order and key institutions that remain firmly under the control of Western powers, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. .

Some of us, including people like me, believe we need to find solutions to the unfair international financial and economic architecture, former Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said in an interview. BRICS would therefore probably be one of the ways to balance certain things.

For Putin and Xi, the interest in the BRICS also shows their ability to fend off attempts by the United States and its allies to isolate them more widely because of the war in Ukraine and military threats against Taiwan, the Philippines, the South Korea and Japan.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy struggled to convince Asian countries to support his peace summit in Switzerland earlier this month, and Putin this week signed a defense pact with North Korea while warning he had the right to arm American adversaries around the world.

A club that for years had only five members expanded to nine with the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt last January. This is a move largely driven by China as it attempts to increase its influence on the global stage.

Another Southeast Asian country, Indonesia, was seen as an early favorite to join last year before President Joko Widodo indicated he would not rush into the decision.

Nevertheless, the momentum to add new members continued. Despite U.S. and European efforts to prevent countries from dealing with Moscow, representatives from 12 non-member countries participated in the BRICS dialogue in Russia this month. They included longtime enemies of the United States like Cuba and Venezuela, but also countries like Turkey, Laos, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.

Also present was Vietnam, which last year strengthened ties with Washington, a move seen as a pushback against Beijing's growing influence in the region. Hanoi has been following the group's progress with keen interest, state broadcaster Voice of Vietnam said last month.

Vietnam is always ready to actively participate and contribute to global and regional multilateral mechanisms, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said at the time.

Vietnam hosted the Russian leader this week despite strong objections from the United States, saying no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression in Ukraine. Vietnam and Russia have ties dating back to the Cold War and the Soviet era.

In their joint statement issued after their negotiations, Russia welcomed Vietnam's participation in the dialogue earlier this month and said it would continue to strengthen ties between the Brics countries and developing countries, including Vietnam.

It was unclear to what extent BRICS were part of Putin's closed-door talks in Vietnam, although both countries pledged to strengthen cooperation on defense and energy. China's Li took advantage of his trip to Malaysia to deepen trade and economic ties and advance the construction of major projects.

Heavy group

After expanding this year, BRICS plans to invite non-member countries to attend its next summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October. Simply hosting this event gives Moscow the opportunity to show the world that it is not totally isolated by Western opposition to the war in Ukraine.

It's no secret that Washington doesn't like the Brics, especially those of Iran and Russia, said Scot Marciel, former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Myanmar and the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia.

At the same time, the larger the bloc becomes, the less likely it is to reach consensus on key issues, he said. My sense is that Washington probably won't applaud Thailand and Malaysia's decision to join, but I don't think it's going to cause huge heartburn.

U.S. State Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The potential benefits of BRICS membership go beyond geopolitics.

Members of the bloc agreed to pool $100 billion in foreign currency reserves, which they can lend to each other in emergencies. The group also founded the New Development Bank, an institution modeled on the World Bank, which approved nearly $33 billion in loans, primarily for water, transportation and other infrastructure projects, since the start of its operations in 2015.

This investment pool would be useful in Southeast Asia, where public development funding has fallen to a low of $26 billion in 2022, according to a report released this month by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.

Another attraction to membership, Malaysia's Saifuddin said, is residual negative sentiment toward institutions like the IMF, which has pushed austerity measures sometimes blamed in the region for worsening the economic woes caused by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

Washington is not sitting still. He has strengthened security ties in the region on issues such as counterterrorism and with countries like Vietnam and the Philippines, which are increasingly concerned about their disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. But as great power competition intensifies at all levels, there is also recognition that the region must hedge its bets.

There is less and less room for maneuver for smaller countries, Ong Keng Yong, the former ASEAN secretary-general, said in an interview. By joining organizations like BRICS, countries are signaling that they want to be friendly with all parties, not just the United States and its allies. BLOOMBERG