We often say that the world is like a new chess game, and the BRICS countries, which have released signals of "expansion" in recent years, have suddenly changed their strategies. A few days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the BRICS group has voted to temporarily suspend the admission of new members and focus on integrating the recently joined member states. As soon as this news came out, it immediately sparked heated discussions in the outside world.
However, Lavrov also gave corresponding reasons, he said that because the number of BRICS countries has doubled from the original 5 to 10, it is now necessary for the members of the BRICS to run in first, digest themselves, and let the new members adapt first. Personally, I think this move is very necessary.
In fact, according to the original assumption, it should be the BRICS 11 countries, not the current BRICS 10 countries, due to the change of Argentine president, the new President Milley announced that he would not join the BRICS, the original concept of the BRICS 11 countries, can only temporarily stop at the BRICS. Although the BRICS countries have successfully carried out the second wave of expansion, Argentina's approach has also sounded the alarm bell for the BRICS countries to a certain extent.
Judging from the lineup of the BRICS countries, it can basically be divided into the old BRICS countries and the new BRICS countries. The biggest difference between the two is the time, tacit understanding and proficiency of cooperation. After all, the old BRICS countries have been working closely together for more than a decade, while the new BRICS countries have not been cooperating internally for more than a year, even if they start on January 1 this year.
In other words, cooperation between the old and new BRICS member countries needs to be strengthened, and larger-scale economic cooperation needs to be rolled out. It would indeed be inappropriate to rush into the third round of expansion when the internal member states had not yet fully run-in. After all, focusing only on quantity over quality is not the original intention of the BRICS.
To this end, the temporary suspension of the expansion of the BRICS can be regarded as a strategic adjustment, with the aim of integrating and deepening the cooperation of existing member states and laying a solid foundation for future development. Speaking of which, some people may ask, isn't the desire of more than 30 countries to join the BRICS if the BRICS countries stop expanding? Not really.
According to Lavrov, although the BRICS has suspended its expansion, a list of categories of BRICS partner countries is being drawn up as a step towards full membership. Therefore, the suspension of BRICS membership has not affected the enthusiasm of many countries to join the BRICS. It is reported that Venezuela, Thailand, Senegal, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Bahrain and Pakistan have all formally submitted applications. In addition, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also said that the process of joining the BRICS will soon begin.
Previously, Western countries were afraid of the expansion of the BRICS. Because most of the world's goods are concentrated in the hands of the BRICS, and not only that, the countries of the Global South have something that can replace Western countries. Broadly speaking, ideological, economic, military, and technological are the four pillars that support the unipolar world of the West. Then, with the rise of the BRICS, the countries of the Global South are also slowly developing in the direction of their rise, so that the four pillars of Western countries have gradually shaken. At the moment, the BRICS countries are only suspending the expansion of the BRICS, not stopping the expansion, and the trouble of the West is still to come......