Common ground in short supply as China hosts BRICS

XIAMEN AFP Sept 3, 2017 - The five BRICS nations hold their annual summit in China today under the shadow of a Sino-Indian border spat and growing questions about the grouping’s relevance.   

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-- was formed to allow the biggest emerging economies representing more than 40 percent of humanity to form a united front in a world whose trade and finance rules were written by the West.   

But the bloc seems no closer to that goal as President Xi Jinping convenes its ninth summit in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen. Brazilian President Michel Temer and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, meanwhile, arrive distracted by political turmoil at home.  

 
A major threat to BRICS comity lies in tension between nuclear-armed China and India, who recently locked horns over a disputed Himalayan border region.  A full-blown crisis was averted as they backed off last week but it has left a bitter aftertaste.  There is also mistrust over China’s ally Pakistan, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who also will attend -- has labelled a font of terrorism.   

Modi snubbed a separate summit called by Xi in May to promote the Chinese leader’s vision of reinvigorated ancient east-west trading routes, which is seen by many analysts as a Chinese geopolitical power play.