The President of China, Xi Jinping, will be in attendance of the BRICS leaders’ summit in South Africa as he makes a state visit to the country next week.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, made this announcement in an online statement, saying, “At the invitation of President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, President Xi Jinping will attend the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and pay a state visit to South Africa from August 21 to 24.”
After his trip to Russia in March, this will be Jinping’s second overseas trip of 2023. The Chinese president earlier paid a visit to South Africa in 2018 in an effort to strengthen his nation’s relations with Africa on a political and commercial level.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, together known as the BRICS, would gather in Johannesburg the next week to explore how to transform the group of countries—which together account for a quarter of the world’s economy—into a geopolitical force that can challenge the developed world’s hegemony.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who is wanted internationally for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will participate through video rather than in person.
The summit in South Africa has received invitations from 69 nations overall, including all African governments, and it is anticipated that growth would be a top priority. Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia, and other nations have expressed interest, formally or informally, in joining the alliance.
China has stated that it “welcomes more like-minded partners to join the ‘BRICS family’ at an early date” in an effort to increase its geopolitical power amid its continuous conflict with the United States.
Brazil has opposed enlargement out of concern that it will diminish the group’s prominence, while Russia also favours it. India is undecided.
A Goldman Sachs analyst initially used the acronym BRIC to characterize the growth of Brazil, Russia, India, and China in 2001. The group met for the first time in person in Russia in 2009, and when South Africa joined the following year, they adopted the name BRICS.
40% of the world’s population and around 26% of the global GDP are made up of BRICS nations.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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