At BRICS Summit, China and India Compete for Influence
At the BRICS summit, China and India revealed sharply different visions for the bloc's purpose. Beijing wants to use it to counter American power, while New Delhi prefers to keep it broad enough to avoid taking sides.
The BRICS summit has exposed a significant divide between China and India, the group's two largest members, over what the bloc should ultimately aim to achieve. Both countries are seeking to expand their influence within BRICS, yet their underlying visions for its role on the world stage differ considerably.
Competing Visions
China views BRICS primarily as a vehicle for challenging the dominance of the United States on the global stage. For Beijing, the grouping represents an opportunity to build an alternative center of power in international affairs and to promote a model of global governance that is not centered on Western leadership.
India, by contrast, has adopted a more cautious stance. New Delhi wants BRICS to remain broad and inclusive enough that member states are not forced to pick sides between major powers. This approach reflects India's desire to preserve its strategic autonomy, allowing it to maintain cooperative ties with both Washington and Moscow, as well as with fellow BRICS members such as China.
A Broader Rivalry
The disagreement reflects a wider rivalry between the two Asian giants for leadership within the bloc of major emerging economies. While China is pushing to turn BRICS into a more clearly defined geopolitical instrument, India favors a looser structure that preserves greater flexibility in its foreign policy dealings.
The differing approaches suggest that BRICS's ability to speak with one voice on major international issues may remain limited, as long as its two most influential members cannot agree on a shared direction for the group's future.
