President Xi Jinping has called for championing the joint right to development, said an expert from the United States, citing Xi's speech at the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.
"If that is protected within the international system, at the level of the Global South and the Global North and within UN multilateralism, I think we will all be more secure, more peaceful, and happier," said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies.
There are many civilizations and development paths in the world, and this is how the world should be, said Gupta, citing Xi. "No other country should stand in its way to try to stop that development," he said in an interview with China Daily.
Xi wants every country to have a right to development, which is jointly defended, said Gupta.
The secondary message attached to that, he said, was that "if the Global South gets together, comes together, and champions their right to development at the high table of global multilateralism with the Global North, maybe fairer bargains can be reached which could be beneficial to all parties concerned, both the Global North and the Global South".
Besides calling for deepening of business and financial cooperation to boost economic growth, Xi said: "We should expand political and security cooperation to uphold peace and tranquility".
According to Gupta, the message here is part of Xi's proposed Global Security Initiative and Global Development Initiative.
"Even from a security standpoint, every country has a right to its own security and the right to its own self-defense," Gupta said.
"Security is best achieved when all parties are thoughtful and not too self-regarding, but also regard other countries' security and rights. And this is best done under the banner of global multilateralism and not done in the context of small groups and exclusive blocs and small cliques which set their own rules and then consider that those rules are international norms which they are not," Gupta said.
President Xi's speech has highlighted the difference between UN-centered multilateralism and peace and security, and Western alliance-led peace and security, and how, sometimes, the latter could create these "us versus them formulations, which actually lead to greater division and conflict rather than peace and security".
On BRICS mechanism, Gupta said its most important contribution to the world is helping emerging markets and developing countries fight jointly for their right to development.
Comparatively, the West, the US typically, always dictates the model in which things must happen, he said. "And developing countries must then work within that model and try to develop themselves better."
Gupta cited the example of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen being active on issues such as recapitalizing the multilateral development banks to tackle debt distress situations, and calling upon them to change investment strategies to better respond to global challenges.
However, she did not say anything in terms of expanding emerging market quotas at international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, he said.
Landmark summit
Gupta said the BRICS summit was a "landmark" one. First, it has been almost four years since they met in person for the summit, after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Second, no BRICS summit has ever had "such a large attendance of developing country leaders". "It has been held in Africa, and the South African chair invited many African governments and a number of other governments."
And the most unique point, Gupta said, is the issue of expansion of BRICS has been handled very seriously. "What we are seeing now is a possibility of a number of other countries, a number of emerging markets and developing countries joining the BRICS."
Gupta pointed out that the West, or the Global North, should not see BRICS and its expansion as "a real challenge".
"It is about rebalancing the stakes at the negotiating table so that better bargains, which are viable and productive for both the North and the South, can be achieved," he said.