In response to China’s bid to expand BRICS, India and Brazil oppose the expansion, raising fears of a shift in global power

According to officials with knowledge of the situation, India and Brazil are rebuffing a Chinese push to quickly expand the BRICS group of emerging markets in order to increase its political influence and confront the United States.

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are debating the idea of integrating Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in the group ahead of a summit that will take place in Johannesburg later on this month. According to sources quoted in a Bloomberg report, China has consistently pushed for this extension in private negotiations with the member nations.

Numerous other countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS alliance as a result of this expansion, which has alarmed Western nations that fear that the organization is attempting to balance the dominance of the US and the EU.

Brazil is worried about the potential consequences and is attempting to avoid rapid expansion. India, on the other hand, is advocating for the adoption of rigorous guidelines that would control how and when other countries could approach the BRICS alliance without formally joining.

According to officials with knowledge of the situation, India and Brazil intend to discuss the prospect of inviting additional nations as observers during the summit. According to two officials, South Africa is in favor of talking about different membership choices to meet this proposal but does not necessarily object to the idea of enlargement.

“The BRICS leaders meeting last year authorized the expansion of membership, adding more members to BRICS is the political consensus of the five BRICS countries,” China’s foreign ministry responded to Bloomberg in a statement.

According to two Indian officials, draft guidelines for membership in the BRICS group have been developed as a result of India’s opposition to China’s expansion request. It is anticipated that these principles will be discussed and maybe adopted during the forthcoming leader’s conference next month.

According to one of the officials, India is urging the BRICS countries to consider expanding its membership to growing economies and democracies like Argentina and Nigeria rather than Saudi Arabia with its dynastic and dictatorial government.

The proposal from Brazil, according to a representative, calls for the establishment of two categories: “observer” and “partner country.” According to this proposal, new countries would initially be assigned to these groups before being given consideration for full membership in the BRICS organization. The representative added that Brazil supports Indonesia initiating this procedure.