In January this year, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia were officially admitted as full members of the BRICS group. As a result, the size and influence of the entire BRICS group covers almost all major resources, industrial and agricultural resources in the world, and the influence is incomparable. Many countries continue to apply to join the BRICS group. However, just a few days ago, the BRICS organization made an important decision, announcing the suspension of expansion and raising the threshold.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed a few days ago that the 10 BRICS countries have passed a vote to suspend the expansion. The expansion of the BRICS countries in January directly doubled the number of members, and the group needs time and energy to "digest" the addition of new members. In the future, the BRICS group will also draft a "list" involving partner countries as an eligibility step for the admission of new members in the future. There are basically 3 meanings. First, BRICS is no longer recruiting, and recently everyone does not have to continue to apply, this is everyone's decision, not only Russia's. Second, because the scope of the BRICS countries is so large, the BRICS countries have to think carefully about how to operate such a large resource pool. Third, the threshold for recruiting people in the future should be raised. The future will depend on your performance. The international situation is becoming more and more dangerous, and if you want to take sides, you have to think clearly, BRICS does not need to be grass-based.
Frankly, my first thought came to mind of Turkey and Zimbabwe recently. Turkey first went to China to visit, saying that it wanted to join the BRICS, and then went to Moscow to find Putin and said that he wanted to join the BRICS. In short, it was very arrogant, saying that he wanted to join the BRICS because the EU did not allow him to enter, and the BRICS was a good substitute, and in the end the mood was very stiff. And there is nothing to say in Zimbabwe, basically there are two words on the face, "ask for money".
Objectively speaking, the decision to suspend expansion is actually quite necessary. On the one hand, it is actually the first few countries that have suffered. In order to balance China's discourse, Russia has brought India in. As a result, India can't hold up the wall in the mud, and it still has close contacts with the United States, especially after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, India's series of measures, Russia should now regret it. On the other hand, how to digest such a large "resource pool" that has suddenly become more is indeed a problem that needs to be considered. The international situation is developing very fast, and many countries have not expected it. How to cut this cake, cut too much, whether the new tenants are unhappy, cut less, whether it also damages their own interests, these must be considered. In particular, the new countries are all from the Middle East, and they are basically coming to China. There may also be some games between China and Russia, which will bring some turmoil, so it is true that the capacity cannot be expanded at this time.
Intuitively speaking, the rise of the BRICS countries has not simply brought about the cooperation of several countries and economies, but a reshaping of the global economic and trade structure and even the power structure. A large number of the countries applying for the BRICS are third world countries, and the BRICS has been regarded as a symbol of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-Western unilateralism. But at the same time, there is a massive influx of "partners", many of whom have unstable domestic political structures and may be put in power by "proxies" at any time.
The decision to stop the expansion is actually an opportunity for China to free up time and space, so that China has the opportunity to do some things with confidence, such as the criteria for screening future partners, and for example, there is a reason to reject some countries with the potential of "white-eyed wolves", such as integrating the existing industrial chain while completing industrial transformation and upgrading, so as to meet the real challenges of the future.