President Xi Jinping”s address at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi comes at a significant moment in international affairs. His speech was more than a statement about the future of BRICS. It articulated a wider vision of how the international system should evolve as the Global South rises collectively and multipolarity advances, and the Global South seeks a greater voice in shaping the rules of global governance.
The central theme of Xi’s address was unmistakable — the international order must become more representative, equitable and responsive to contemporary realities. His emphasis on sovereign equality, international law, multilateralism and the peaceful settlement of disputes reflected China’s long-standing argument that global governance institutions need reform. But the significance of the speech lies in the context in which this argument is being advanced now.
The world today is markedly different from the international environment that emerged after the Cold War. Economic power is increasingly distributed across several centers. Emerging economies have acquired greater weight, developing countries are demanding more influence in international institutions, and technological transformation is changing traditional measures of national power.
BRICS has consequently acquired growing strategic importance. What began as a grouping of major emerging economies has evolved into a significant platform for cooperation among countries seeking greater influence over international economic and political decision-making.
Its importance should not be measured by the number of members it has.
Instead, its political significance derives from the larger transformation it represents, the growing confidence of the Global South and its determination to participate in shaping, rather than merely adapting to, the international order.
Xi placed this transformation at the heart of his remarks. His assertion that all countries, irrespective of their size, strength or wealth, should enjoy equality in international affairs speaks directly to concerns long expressed across the developing world. His call for increased representation and voice for developing countries in the international financial architecture similarly addresses an enduring imbalance between the distribution of global economic power and the institutions created in an earlier era.
This does not necessarily mean replacing one international order with another. The more consequential proposition in Xi’s speech is the emergence of a more multipolar system in which several centers of economic and political influence coexist.
His defense of the United Nations, international law and multilateral institutions suggests that the objective being presented is reform and greater representation rather than abandonment of the existing multilateral framework.
This distinction matters. A durable new world order cannot be constructed through confrontation between competing blocs. Nor can the Global South advance its interests by reproducing the divisions that characterized earlier periods of great power rivalry.
Xi’s message instead emphasized cooperation, development and shared prosperity. In this respect, his speech sought to position China as an important advocate and catalyst for a more inclusive form of multilateralism.
Perhaps the most noteworthy part of the address was the transition from principles to practical proposals.
Xi announced five initiatives encompassing artificial intelligence, trade and investment facilitation, digital industry cooperation, intelligent manufacturing, and science and technology talent development.
These proposals demonstrate how the contest over the future international order will increasingly be shaped by economics and technology, rather than conventional geopolitics alone.
Artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and technological capabilities will determine which countries prosper in the coming decades. Developing countries risk being left behind if access to these technologies is concentrated among a small number of advanced economies.
Xi’s proposal for a BRICS AI open-source community is therefore particularly significant. So too are plans for digital skills training, technological exchanges, smart factories and cooperation in developing scientific talent. Together they suggest an effort to transform BRICS from principally a diplomatic forum into a platform capable of generating tangible economic and technological cooperation.
Xi also linked China’s domestic development to international opportunity.
His reference to China’s 15th Five-Year Plan as both a national development blueprint and a “cooperation list” for the world reinforces a central feature of Beijing’s international outlook, that China’s continued modernization can create opportunities beyond its borders.
This complements the Global Development Initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative, both of which seek to place connectivity and development at the center of China’s engagement with the developing world.
For countries such as Pakistan, this dimension has particular relevance. The experience of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor demonstrates how infrastructure, energy, connectivity and industrial cooperation can become practical components of a broader development partnership. The next phase of engagement with China and other emerging economies will increasingly need to extend into technology, digitization, artificial intelligence, industrial modernization and human capital.
There is nevertheless an important test ahead. The credibility and long-term influence of BRICS will ultimately depend on its ability to translate political declarations into effective institutions and measurable outcomes. Its members have different national interests, economic structures and strategic relationships.
Managing these differences while maintaining cohesion will require sustained diplomacy and political imagination.
This is where Xi’s emphasis on unity assumes wider significance. His address did not portray the Global South simply as an oppositional force. Instead, it presented developing countries as a potentially stabilizing and constructive constituency in international affairs. That is an important distinction at a time when geopolitical polarization threatens to divide the world into competing camps.
Xi is increasingly seeking to shape the intellectual and institutional contours of the emerging multipolar order. His BRICS address reflects an approach based on greater representation for developing countries, economic connectivity, technological cooperation and strengthened multilateralism. Whether every element of this vision is realized will depend on the choices made by many countries, not China alone.
But the direction of change is increasingly evident. The Global South is no longer peripheral to debates about the future of the international order. It is becoming one of its principal actors. BRICS provides an increasingly important platform for that transformation. Xi’s message in New Delhi was therefore both a call for unity and a statement of intent, the emerging international system should not be shaped by a few for the many, but increasingly through the participation of all.
In an age of uncertainty, that proposition will have resonance well beyond BRICS.
The author is the deputy editor-in-chief of Daily Ittehad Media Group & Pakistan Economic Network.
The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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