In the past ten years, "rising south and falling north" is one of the most remarkable changes in the international pattern. The economic strength of emerging and developing countries has been continuously enhanced. At the same time, the economies of developed countries such as the United States and Europe have been in a long-term downturn, and the balance of power comparison has been tilted towards the southern countries. With the great achievements in economic development, the international influence of emerging countries has been continuously improved.
Looking back on the course of BRICS cooperation in the past decade, we can find that under the guidance of BRICS cooperation, the political strength of emerging and developing countries has reached a new height, which can be said to have consolidated the fruits of economic growth in the past few decades. Value guidance, system construction and implementation are three indispensable elements of political strength, and BRICS cooperation has made great achievements.
Value guidance is all-round, including the views of BRICS countries on major world political issues and their important experiences in governing the country. For example, from the first summit meeting, the BRICS cooperation clearly proposed to build a more democratic and just multipolar world on the basis of international rule of law, equal cooperation, mutual respect, coordinated actions and collective decision-making by all countries, and clearly stated its position, which strongly voiced the voices of the vast number of emerging and developing countries and played an important practical role in promoting the fair and rational development of world politics. In mid-August this year, the BRICS seminar on governing the country was successfully held in Quanzhou, Fujian. Countries exchanged experiences in governing the country at the meeting, which also spread new ideas and new values to the international community. International politics is pluralistic, but this pluralism is deeply influenced by power, and the opportunity to express diversity will not automatically fall on emerging and developing countries. The BRICS cooperation has made achievements in value guidance in the past decade, won the opportunity for its own expression, won the recognition of the international community, and won a solid place in political influence.
The achievements of institutional construction are more obvious. In the past decade, the BRICS mechanism has been able to overcome various difficulties and make continuous progress, which has enhanced the confidence of emerging and developing countries in institutional cooperation and is a strong guarantee for enhancing political strength. System construction is not only the implementation of theory or thought, but also an important index to test whether this theory or thought can exist for a long time. The brilliant decade of BRICS cooperation fully demonstrates the feasibility of cooperation among emerging countries. The BRICS countries held the first foreign ministers’ meeting in 2006, and achieved the first leaders’ meeting and issued a joint communique two years later, and expanded their membership for the first time three years later, and reached an agreement on the meeting mechanism, main topics, and the form of results. In the past ten years, the foundation of BRICS cooperation has been increasingly consolidated, and the areas of cooperation have been continuously expanded. It has formed a multi-level structure with leaders’ meetings as the guide and ministerial meetings such as the meeting of senior security representatives and the meeting of foreign ministers as the support to carry out pragmatic cooperation in dozens of fields such as economy, trade, finance, industry and commerce, agriculture, education, health, science and technology, culture, think tanks and friendship cities. In June this year, the first BRICS Games was held in Guangzhou, which made BRICS cooperation more colorful and eye-catching.
In the field of international cooperation, people often ask a question: "Is cooperation on paper or on the ground?". The cooperation of BRICS in the past ten years has obviously fallen on the ground, not just a blueprint. There are more and more actual landing projects, which is also an important symbol of the rising political strength of BRICS cooperation. In the past decade, the BRICS mechanism has gradually established cooperation mechanisms such as new development bank, emergency reserve arrangement, industrial and commercial Council, and think tank Council. Such high efficiency is rare in cooperation between emerging and developing countries. At the end of August this year, the BRICS Bank just approved the loan projects of China, India and Russia with a total amount of about 1.4 billion US dollars, and the total loan in 2017 will reach about 2.5 billion US dollars. The permanent office building of the BRICS New Development Bank headquarters in Shanghai is about to start.
Therefore, the decade of BRICS cooperation is also a decade in which the economic strength of emerging countries has been continuously transformed into political strength, and the BRICS mechanism has become a solid whole. In this way, the future BRICS cooperation will have more obvious political influence, and it is worth looking forward to creating another brilliant decade. (Director, China Foreign Relations Research Office, Institute of World Politics, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Han Liqun)