CHINA SAYS IT SUPPORTS INDIA’S CHAIRMANSHIP OF 5-MEMBER BRICS

BEIJING: China on Monday said it supports India’s chairmanship of the five-member Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) for 2021, and will work with New Delhi to strengthen the bloc.

India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Brics forum on January 1, 2021, taking over from Russia, which hosted the last summit as an online event in November 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

India taking over the Brics leadership, for the third time since the group was formed, comes at a sensitive time when New Delhi’s ties with Beijing are facing their worst challenge in decades – it’s only after nine months and several rounds of negotiations that border troops have disengaged from the south and north banks of Pangong lake.

India will host the Brics summit this year, and the question is how much will the chill in Sino-india ties impact the functioning of the bloc?

The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday tried to allay that apprehension when asked whether the India-china border dispute will impact Brics.

“We support India in hosting this year’s meeting. We will work with it and other members to strengthen communication and dialogue and consolidate the three-pillar cooperation, expand Brics plus cooperation and work for greater progress under Brics . And also help the world to defeat Covid-19, resume economic growth and improve global governance,” Wang Wenbin, foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The “three pillars” Wang referred to were policy and security, economy and finance, and culture and people-to-people exchanges.