The New Indian Express ·
Politics
‘Might makes right’ has no place, says China's Xi Jinping; calls for stronger BRICS unity with Global South
NEW DELHI: The logic that “might makes right” should have been discarded long ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, as he called on BRICS nations to jointly strengthen ties with emerging markets and the Global South.
Xi also proposed a five-point initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation in trade, manufacturing, investment and technology.
Addressing the concluding session of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Xi said the world was undergoing “changes unseen in a century” as the collective rise of the Global South accelerated the shift towards a multipolar order. He urged BRICS to “seize the historical initiative” and become “an active, stabilising and positive force in international affairs”.
"A world without rules is like a crossroads without traffic lights, where chaos and disorder are all but guaranteed. Fairness and justice is a universal aspiration, and international rules must be written by all countries," he said.
Xi said the Global South countries should jointly "defend the rule of law in international affairs, safeguard the basic norms of international relations including sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and ensure that international law and international rules are applied to all."
In this context, he underlined the need to shun "double standards", remarks seen as directed at the Western powers "All countries, regardless of their size, strength or wealth, are equal members of the international community," Xi said.
"Global South countries should hold high the banner of multilateralism, uphold the authority and role of the United Nations, support multilateral institutions in advancing reform and increasing efficiency, and ensure the equal participation of all countries in international affairs," he said.
Xi called for reform of the international financial architecture to increase the representation and voice of developing economies, and urged BRICS to support reform of the World Trade Organization and the continued development of the New Development Bank.
Xi's five-point initiative to enhance BRICS cooperation focuses on establishing an inclusive artificial intelligence framework, facilitating trade and investment, deepening digital industry ties, advancing "intelligent manufacturing," and launching a joint science and technology development initiative.
China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS-AI open source community to support the cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialised AI seminars and training courses, and build an open AI ecosystem, he said, about the first initiative.
On the trade and investment facilitation initiative, Xi said China proposes to establish a BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development.
The third initiative, he said, will be in the domain of the digital industry.
"China will push for establishing a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, and conduct digital skills training, technological exchange and industrial alignment, so as to jointly enable the development of the digital economy," he said.
The fourth one, Xi said, will be to have expanded cooperation in "intelligent manufacturing".
"China stands ready to assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms, and jointly promote manufacturing transformation and upgrading," he said.
The fifth initiative will be in the science and technology domain.
"China proposes to set up a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards. China will launch a BRICS youth exchange programme for scientific and technological innovation, so as to cultivate more high-calibre talent," he said.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
