Xi’s BRICS Push: China Wants to Shape How Emerging Economies Trade and Build
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest BRICS proposals put a practical question at the centre of the bloc’s global ambitions: can its members build economic arrangements useful enough to change where businesses invest and which technologies governments adopt?
At the New Delhi summit on September 13, Xi proposed cooperation on artificial intelligence, special economic zones and services trade. China would lead a BRICS AI Open Source Zone and host a services trade forum in 2027, Reuters reported. These remain announced initiatives; their reach will depend on implementation.
Influence through everyday economic choices
WARYATV’s assessment is that these proposals could strengthen China’s influence through the tools countries use to develop. Training programmes, investment partnerships and technology platforms can shape commercial relationships long after summit declarations fade.
For participating governments, the attraction would be tangible: access to expertise, additional investment opportunities and more suppliers to choose from. For Beijing, helping organise those networks could create durable demand for Chinese partnerships.
Neither outcome is automatic. An AI initiative needs computing resources, credible governance and people able to adapt systems locally. An economic-zone partnership needs reliable electricity, transport, customers and financing. Without those foundations, cooperation risks becoming a calendar of meetings.
Financing offers a measurable test
The New Development Bank provides an existing benchmark for judging BRICS ambitions. Its 2022–2026 strategy set targets of $30 billion in approved financing and 30 percent of financing in local currencies. These are strategic targets, not proof that either has been achieved.
Local-currency borrowing can reduce a borrower’s exposure to exchange-rate movements when revenues are earned in the same currency. Its usefulness still depends on availability, pricing and repayment terms.
The consequential questions are therefore specific: which projects receive financing, how quickly money reaches them, and whether their economic returns justify the debt. Announcing alternatives gives governments options; delivering affordable, productive investment makes those options meaningful.
Political diversity limits collective power
Economic cooperation also has to accommodate different security interests. Reuters reported that the summit secured a joint declaration urging restraint in the Middle East, despite tensions involving members Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
That agreement shows diplomatic usefulness. It does not demonstrate a shared capacity to enforce restraint or resolve the conflict. The same distinction applies economically: agreement on wider cooperation leaves difficult decisions about costs, standards and benefits unresolved.
Smaller economies should judge proposed partnerships by jobs, skills, export access and transparent contracts. Participation alone cannot guarantee greater bargaining power.
WARYATV Assessment
Xi’s agenda could make BRICS more consequential if it produces services and investment that members repeatedly choose to use. The strongest evidence will be funded projects, functioning technology partnerships and demonstrable gains for local businesses. If those emerge, China’s influence could deepen through routine economic decisions. If they do not, the distance between BRICS’ expanding ambitions and its practical achievements will remain its defining weakness.
