Diplomacy: India engaged in limiting China's global influence, now face to face with the expansion of BRICS

Amidst the fast-growing popularity of the BRICS group, differences have come to the fore between the two important members of the group, China and India, regarding what should be the strategy for its expansion. In the three-day BRICS Sherpa meeting that started in Durban on Tuesday, both countries presented their stand regarding this. India wants that the entry of new members into BRICS, a group of developing countries, should be on the basis of pre-determined clear criteria, and not just on the basis of recommendations of existing members.

In the meeting, India clearly said that first some standards like GDP size, population, etc. should be fixed for membership, then it should be seen how many of these criteria the country seeking membership fulfill, only then a decision on membership should be taken. Significantly, the expansion of BRICS membership was suggested by China during the virtual summit held under its chairmanship last year. This suggestion of President Jinping is linked to China's expansionist aspiration, under which it wants to make its influential countries a member of the group to increase its influence in the group.

So far 19 countries have expressed interest in BRICS membership. Of these, 13 countries have shown interest formally and 6 countries have shown interest informally. Interested countries include Argentina, Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Bangladesh and Pakistan have also shown interest in becoming members.

It has become clear in the meeting that some of the existing members are pushing for membership in certain countries. Brazil's emphasis is on making Argentina a member. At the same time, China and Russia want Saudi Arabia to become a member. China urges Indonesia, and Iran to become members as well. But India insists that there should be some degree of fairness in the selection process. For example, when South Africa qualified as a member, why should Nigeria, a large economy, be left out? Significantly, before South Africa became a member, the grouping was named after the first letter of the four-member countries Brazil, Russia, China, and India, and in 2010, when South Africa became a member, it was named BRICS.

The three-day meeting that began on Tuesday discussed whether there is a need for immediate expansion of the grouping and if so, how many new members should be inducted and on what basis. Now Sherpa will give his report which will be considered in the 15th summit of BRICS countries to be held in Johannesburg in August.

BRICS countries represent more than a quarter of the global GDP and 42 percent of the world's population. Another issue that will figure prominently in the summit in August with the membership of the new countries is the BRICS countries coming out with their own currency and introducing an alternative to the dollar in global trade.

Not only in BRICS, India has also started working on a strategy to limit China's influence in Africa. According to a report, Africa has become the second largest group in terms of loans from India. India has distributed $32 billion in 42 African countries in the last 10 years. That is, India has given only 38 percent of the loan given by India to Africa. While China has given loans worth $134 billion to African countries till 2020.