BRICS in New Delhi: Bharat, China and the Emerging Strategic Order

Dr. Shreesh K Pathak

(Editor, Seema Sanghosh English)

The rise of China, Bharat’s growing economic and military capabilities, Russia’s confrontation with the West, conflicts in West Asia, and competition over technology, energy and critical minerals are reshaping global power.

The New Delhi Summit is a test of whether the expanded BRICS can convert its weight into strategic influence.

BRICS began in 2006 with Brazil, Russia, Bharat and China, with South Africa joining later. Its expansion has brought Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia into the grouping. Today, the 11-member BRICS represents nearly half of the world’s population and around 40 percent of global GDP.

But why has BRICS become increasingly important?

Why does BRICS matter now?

BRICS offers developing countries another platform for cooperation.

But the issue today goes beyond representation. Economic security has become national security. Access to energy, critical minerals, technology, secure supply chains and reliable financial systems increasingly determines strategic freedom.

BRICS therefore offers developing countries another platform for cooperation.

BRICS is not a military alliance, and its members do not agree on every geopolitical issue. Yet they share an interest in a more representative and multipolar international system.

Why is BRICS important for Bharat?

For Bharat, BRICS is closely connected with strategic autonomy.

Bharat does not want its foreign policy to depend on any single power. It needs strong partnerships across the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia, the Gulf and the Global South, while managing competition with China.

BRICS gives Bharat additional strategic space.

Bharat has used its BRICS chairship to focus on trade finance, MSMEs, digital services, energy, technology, health and investment.

Easier finance and new markets can create business opportunities. This is where geopolitics meets Bharat’s everyday economy.

Why does BRICS need Bharat?

Bharat’s importance to BRICS goes beyond economic size.

Bharat has a vast market, technological capabilities, a major pharmaceutical industry and credibility among developing countries. More importantly, it maintains relationships across different power centres.

Bharat works with Washington and Moscow, engages with Europe and the Gulf, and remains a voice of the Global South.

Bharat can help ensure that BRICS remains an inclusive platform rather than becoming an instrument of any single power.

That is why Bharat needs BRICS, but BRICS also needs Bharat.

The China question

No discussion of BRICS can avoid China.

China is the largest BRICS economy and Bharat’s most consequential strategic competitor. The boundary question, trade deficit, technology and national security remain major concerns.

Yet competition does not eliminate the need for dialogue.

On August 25, Bharat’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 25th round of Special Representatives’ talks on the boundary question in Beijing. The two sides agreed on measures concerning border management, communication channels, border trade, trans-border rivers and continued negotiations, with the next round scheduled in Bharat in 2027.

It is significant, but not a settlement.

Bharat and China have not resolved their differences. They are trying to manage them and prevent competition from becoming uncontrolled conflict.

The economic relationship presents another contradiction. Bharat’s merchandise trade deficit with China reached $99.2 billion in 2024-25. Yet Chinese machinery, electronics and industrial components are also used in Bharat’s manufacturing system.

Bharat therefore needs to reduce excessive dependence on China without weakening its own industrial competitiveness.

What makes the New Delhi Summit significant?

Bharat’s 2026 BRICS chairship has given the grouping a practical orientation, with more than 350 meetings and engagements across over 25 Indian cities.

The theme, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” reflects this effort.

For Bharat, the Summit is an opportunity to demonstrate leadership. For the Global South, it is a test of practical delivery.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Bharat since 2019 adds another strategic dimension, offering both sides an opportunity to demonstrate that competition need not become confrontation.

Modern military power cannot be separated from industrial and technological capacity. Dependence on external sources for critical minerals, semiconductors, energy or key technologies can create strategic vulnerabilities even when a country possesses strong armed forces.

Bharat should therefore use BRICS to diversify critical supply chains, strengthen energy security and promote technology cooperation where appropriate.

Digital infrastructure and payment systems are also becoming strategic assets. Growing interest in payment interoperability and central bank digital currencies could provide additional options, and Bharat’s UPI experience gives it an advantage.

For Bharat, the objective should be greater efficiency, resilience and strategic choice, not simply replacing the US dollar.

What does BRICS mean for ordinary Bharatiyas?

BRICS will not suddenly reduce inflation or eliminate Bharat’s trade deficit with China. But international decisions gradually affect ordinary lives.

Better trade finance can help exporters. New markets can create opportunities for Bharatiya companies. Digital payment connectivity can make cross-border transactions easier. Cooperation on energy, critical minerals and supply chains can strengthen economic security.

Peace between two nuclear-armed neighbours has enormous strategic value.

What should Bharat seek from BRICS?

Bharat should neither turn BRICS into an anti-American platform nor allow it to become an anti-China instrument.

Its objective should be strategic autonomy.

Where interests with China converge, Bharat should cooperate; where they diverge, it should compete. Where national security is involved, it should remain cautious, while deepening partnerships across the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and the Gulf.

Bharat’s greatest opportunity is not to join another camp. It is to use BRICS to shape a more balanced international order.

The success of the New Delhi Summit will not be measured only by declarations. It will be measured by whether Bharat can convert its BRICS leadership into greater economic resilience, stronger strategic autonomy, deeper engagement with the Global South and a more stable security environment.

Bharat’s strength lies in maintaining multiple partnerships according to national interest.

BRICS will not replace the West, nor will it become a perfectly unified geopolitical bloc. But it can become an important pillar of a more plural global order.

For Bharat, the task is clear: not merely to participate in this transformation, but to help shape it.

Seema Sanghosh English | September 2026