A Chinese Perspective: Will China‐India Friction Paralyze the BRICS?
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | Haibin Niu,Sheng Hong |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12968 |
A Chinese Perspective: Will China-India Friction
Paralyze the BRICS?
Haibin Niu and Sheng Hong
Shanghai Institutes for International Studies
Abstract
A puzzle of BRICS is why countries such as India and China work together within the group despite facing consistently difficult
bilateral border tensions. This contribution argues that the multilateral logic of BRICS gives its members a chance to cooperate.
As emerging powers, BRICS members need to adopt a collective approach to enhance their voices in the global governance
system. Existing evidence shows that China and India have managed to separate their bilateral frictions from their collective
actions within BRICS. This contribution examines the stakes of China and India’s BRICS engagement. Since China and India are
the most promising emerging powers in global governance, their partnership will determine the BRICS’depth and the length.
Since China has dealt with the pandemic better than other BRICS members, it has become stronger which might increase the
disparity of power within BRICS. Following the multilateral logic it may help India to cooperate with a stronger China in the
post-COVID-19 era.
In the new millennium, China-India relations have remained
generally stable, and the two countries as rising powers
have developed an intensive cooperative relationship under
the BRICS framework in addition to other multilateral fora.
As frictions over the longstanding China–India border dis-
pute reemerge, tensions between Beijing and New Delhi
have been escalating since early May 2020, and the bilateral
relationship has reached its lowest point in recent years.
For many observers, the escalating tension poses a huge
shadow on the future of the BRICS mechanism in which
China and India serve as founding members. As the most
preeminent emerging economies in the world, a stable and
cooperative partnership between China and India is crucial
to the success of the BRICS, particularly for its Asian agenda.
When they think about how to manage this border crisis,
both countries need to learn from the experience of other
neighboring powers in managing their relations as well as
looking to the future world order in which they will play
important roles. A peaceful solution to the territorial dis-
putes serves their people, region and international ambition.
The BRICS may not be affected negatively and pacify their
intension since the group follows a multilateral cooperation
logic.
1.The multilateral logic of BRICS cooperation
The BRICS group was born as a response to an international
financial crisis in the most advanced economy. The impact
of 2008 financial crisis in the US accelerated the creation of
BRICS and determined the group’s core agenda, namely to
enlarge its voice on international financial governance. The
New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve
Arrangement (CRA) as main institutionalized achievements
reflected the original purpose of BRICS cooperation. The
NDB also preferred local currencies for its businesses such
as borrowing, which reflected BRICS countries’vulnerability
in international financial markets. Overall, the BRICS did not
focus on or engage in bilateral relations during its formation
stage. It was the countries’shared identities as emerging
economies or rising powers (Russia may treat itself as a
reemerging power) and their common objective of achiev-
ing larger influence in the international system which
brought them together. Building good bilateral relations was
not the incentive for starting the group, but it might serve
as a welcome byproduct of the BRICS cooperation.
Since 2009, BRICS members’national security advisors
(namely high representatives for security issues) have
started to meet almost annually, which represents a broad-
ened agenda beyond financial affairs. Their meetings mainly
discuss security concerns of the international community in
various regions rather than members’bilateral security
issues. The most frequent security topics are fighting terror-
ism, safeguarding cyber security, energy security, etc. BRICS
has not yet had a case where it mediated its members’
bilateral relations. This does not mean that BRICS did not
enhance bilateral trust of its members or did not encourage
individual members to contribute to the development of
BRICS. India and China did make their contributions to the
BRICS cooperation by initiating the NDB and inviting South
Africa in respectively. India also supported the BRICS Plus
initiative at Xiamen summit.
As BRICS the members, both China and India maintained
an open and inclusive attitude to support each other’s
major development-oriented multilateral initiatives. In 2014,
China and India signed an agreement to establish the Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as its two largest
©2021 Durham University and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Global Policy (2021) 12:4 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12968
Global Policy Volume 12 . Issue 4 . September 2021
524
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