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China this week hosted the 14th BRICS summit, held virtually for the third year in a row. Such events are often just a public demonstration of various terms agreed months earlier by diplomatic teams from the countries involved, but this year’s meeting brought a more haughty China, prepared to use the bloc as a counterpoint to the United States’ global influence efforts.
Xi set the tone for the event on Wednesday (22), speaking at a business meeting parallel to the main event.
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He attacked the US and claimed that “tragedies of the past” taught humanity that “hegemony, group politics and bloc confrontation do not bring peace or security, but wars and conflicts”;
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He criticized Western sanctions on Russia after the Ukraine invasion, calling them a “double-edged sword” capable of “affecting the global economy”.
Chinese diplomacy went further: it suggested a free trade agreement between the five members of the bloc.
Chinese trade vice president Wang Shouwen defended the idea, saying it would be “a very important means of exploring the trade potential that China is willing to discuss with other BRICS countries.”
Such a treaty would certainly take years to complete, given the impact of Chinese competition on the economies of other members. The announcement has one objective: to try to attract India, a neighbor and a member of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), an American-led trade initiative to limit Chinese influence in the regional economy.
Isolated from major international governance forums after invading Ukraine, Russia has espoused Chinese appeals. Russian Central Bank chief Sergei Storchak went further, suggesting the creation of a financial system independent of the BRICS backed not by the dollar, but by the yuan, the Chinese currency. If it succeeds, the idea would help Moscow to circumvent the blockade on the Swift banking system, in addition to helping to internationalize the Chinese exchange rate.
why it matters: China is already openly discussing the possibility of increasing the number of members of the bloc, a proposal viewed with reservation by Brazil, and now shows signs that it wants to transform the club into one of its main initiatives to counterpoint the West.
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While this means more Chinese investment in the short and medium term, in the long run it could mean a diplomatic challenge to Brazil and India, historically aligned with Washington;
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If the BRICS becomes a forum for contesting Western hegemony, Americans and Europeans would certainly react in a way that undermines the bloc’s influence.
what also matters
Scientists have announced that they have picked up frequencies from possible alien civilizations. The signal was recorded by the 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope dubbed in English as Fast, or “fast”, and would have originated in the red dwarf star Kepler-438, 437 light-years from Earth.
The Fast was inaugurated in 2016 and is capable of identifying narrowband radio signals, used for human electromagnetic communications and considered an indication of technological sources in space, since they cannot be produced naturally.
According to the scientists, the waves were captured between November 2020 and September 2021. Due to the frequency and stability, astronomers ruled out the possibility that satellites or human space probes had generated the signal, since the beam observation area was empty at the time.
Those responsible for Fast will now direct the telescope’s monitoring antennas to the region of origin of the signal. They hope to be able to capture new waves “in the next few years.”
A symbol of food in Hong Kong, the Jumbo floating restaurant sank in the South China Sea after being removed from the city’s bay earlier in the week.
According to Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises, which owns the vessel, the ship encountered “adverse conditions” while passing through the Xisha Islands, tilted and then sank.
The Jumbo remained moored in Hong Kong for decades. The list of clients includes American star Tom Cruise and even British Queen Elizabeth II.
The accident happened a week after the restaurant was sold. The plan was to install it in another country.
keep an eye
The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, this week published a draft of a law that promises to significantly change how social media platforms operate in the country.
The project predicts that comments on platforms will need to be moderated before being published. The text is an addition to a set of rules from 2017, when the country required that only verified users (with verified identity document) could comment on local social networks.
why it matters: the measure was certainly designed to limit critical comments to the government. Unable to analyze every new post, Chinese networks would be forced to create algorithms capable of blocking posts with controversial terms. Thus, censorship in the country will be much more effective.
to go deep
- Observa China is holding a discussion on the national security law in Hong Kong this Saturday (25), at 10 am, and how it interfered with the work of the local press. Information here. (free, in Portuguese)
- The Brazil-China Business Center, in partnership with the Chinese giants Meituan and JD and the Brazilian iFood, will hold a webinar on artificial intelligence and big data in the digital economy on the 29th at 9 am. Registration at this link. (free, in Portuguese, English and Chinese)
- Closing the agenda of events, also on the 29th, at 11 am, the Brics Policy Center at PUC Rio welcomes Professor Karin Vázquez to discuss the novelties in Chinese cooperation and investment policies. Subscriptions here. (free, in Portuguese)
