In an exclusive interview with Diplomatist, Prof. Dong Wang of Peking University lays out China’s strategic vision for BRICS at a time of rapid geopolitical churn. He argues that China has been central to shaping BRICS’ evolution, from agenda-setting to institutional expansion, while candidly addressing the tensions within an enlarged grouping. From managing diversity and recalibrating India–China engagement to advancing the Global South’s voice, energy governance, and financial reform, Prof. Wang outlines how BRICS can transition from a consultative forum into a decisive force in a fragmented, multipolar world.
How would you assess China’s evolving role within BRICS, particularly in shaping the grouping’s vision, institutional development, and strategic agenda since its formation?
As Chinese President Xi Jinping points out at the 2025 BRICS Summit, “BRICS countries have come together based on our shared pursuit and in response to the trend toward peace and development in the world.” What underpins these shared aspirations of the BRICS countries? We believe it is a world defined by openness, inclusiveness, mutual cooperation and win-win outcomes. China’s efforts to shape this vision for BRICS have run through every stage of the mechanism’s evolution. Since the official launch of the BRICS cooperation mechanism in 2006, China has evolved from a “core participant” to a “pivotal leader”. Throughout this process, China has remained steadfast in its commitment to and support for BRICS cooperation, consistently prioritising it as a key pillar of its multilateral diplomacy.
China has played an irreplaceable role in advancing the institutional development of the BRICS mechanism — from the initial cooperation framework, to the “BRICS Plus” model, and further to the vision of a “Greater BRICS Partnership,” opening the door of BRICS cooperation to a broader community of emerging market economies and developing countries. Meanwhile, in terms of agenda-setting, China has driven BRICS cooperation to form a multi-tiered, multi-dimensional and all-encompassing architecture covering politics, economy, finance, trade, social development, and people-to-people exchanges. As Ezzat Saad, Director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, rightly put it, “We cannot imagine BRICS without China. China is a main pillar and a tremendous driving force behind BRICS cooperation”.
Following the recent expansion of BRICS to include countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt, how does China view the challenge of balancing diversity with decision-making efficiency within an enlarged grouping?
China has long advocated that countries and civilisations with diverse backgrounds should pursue common development on the basis of mutual respect. Only by seeking common ground while shelving differences can we truly achieve win-win cooperation. The internal tensions facing the BRICS mechanism after its expansion are objective and inevitable —a natural growing pain for any international mechanism on the path to maturity. Currently, BRICS members exhibit notable differences in cultural values, geopolitical orientations, and economic development stages, which pose multiple challenges to unified decision-making. Yet, diversity and efficiency are a zero-sum game. Through innovative concepts and institutional design, diversity can be transformed into governance effectiveness. In fact, diversity itself is precisely the core competitiveness of BRICS — and diversity and efficiency can coexist in harmony.
For example, China advocates an “issue-oriented cooperation model”, and proposes shifting BRICS cooperation from abstract “general discussions” to concrete “project implementation”. By identifying clear priority areas for cooperation — such as the digital economy, green transition, and local currency settlement, among others — we can build consensus around the tangible “sense of gain” derived from concrete outcomes, thereby reducing disagreements over abstract principles. When all countries can benefit from cooperation, the challenge of decision-making efficiency will naturally ease as their interests converge. With an inclusive and innovative mindset, BRICS cooperation will surely overcome its growing pains, move forward with greater stability, and achieve sustained progress.
In your view, to what extent can BRICS emerge as a meaningful platform for the Global South, and how does China’s foreign policy outlook align with this broader objective?
The BRICS cooperation mechanism is an important platform for solidarity and cooperation among emerging market economies and developing countries. Its emergence and development are rooted in the historical process of the Global South’s collective rise in the context of international order transformation since the beginning of the 21st century. It is both a symbol and an achievement of the Global South’s all-around, group-based ascent. In 2024, the BRICS mechanism witnessed a historic expansion toward the Global South, ushering in the era of a “Greater BRICS Partnership”. As the leading cohort of the Global South, BRICS countries have become a pivotal driving force for its rise.
On the one hand, the BRICS mechanism has established an institutional framework for Global South countries to strengthen coordination and collaboration. On the other hand, it has provided a new channel and institutional platform for the Global South to break free from marginalisation, deeply participate in global governance, and advance the reform of the global governance system. Through BRICS, countries of the Global South can enhance their capacity to shape the global economic and development agenda, advance inclusive economic globalisation, and steer the reform of the global governance system in a direction that benefits the Global South.
How do you view the evolution of India–China engagement within the BRICS framework, particularly with respect to economic cooperation, multilateral diplomacy, and issue-based coordination?
In recent years, India’s polity toward China has taken on a more restrictive and competitive tone, with a greater inclination to engage in Western-led mechanisms such as the G7. Its posture within BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) had at times been relatively muted, which has added complexity to bilateral relations, affected the momentum of economic cooperation, and introduced uncertainty to the institutional building of China-India economic and trade interactions.
Following the expansion of BRICS and the advent of the Trump 2.0 era, India’s attitude has undergone a notable shift. As founding members of the BRICS mechanism and important representatives of the Global South, China-India engagement within the BRICS framework has also evolved from a stage of estrangement to a warm restart. At the latest round of the China-India Strategic Dialogue held this February, both sides committed to taking concrete measures to simplify visa procedures and boost people-to-people exchanges. Visa simplification is only the starting point. From air connectivity and industrial co-prosperity to border management and control, China-India cooperation must advance step by step with a solid foundation. Only by upholding the bottom line of cooperation can the two countries inject vital impetus into the BRICS mechanism, deliver benefits to the 2.8 billion people of the two nations, and bring greater certainty to Asian stability and the advancement of a multipolar world.
As India takes on the BRICS Presidency, what priorities or initiatives would China welcome in order to further strengthen the grouping’s relevance and practical cooperation?
In 2024, President Xi Jinping put forward the important vision of high-quality development of the Greater BRICS Partnership, and established a cooperation framework anchored in the five pillars of BRICS: Peaceful BRICS, Innovative BRICS, Green BRICS, Fair BRICS, and Cultural BRICS. In February 2026, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu explicitly stated at the first BRICS Sherpa meeting in New Delhi that China stands ready to work closely with India to deepen pragmatic BRICS cooperation. During India’s BRICS Presidency, these five pillars will remain China’s top priorities for cooperation.
I would like to focus on one pillar in particular — “Cultural BRICS.” People-to-people and cultural cooperation are of great significance as it consolidates the popular and social foundation for BRICS cooperation, which is a cornerstone of our collective progress. China has consistently taken an active role in enriching the cultural dimension of BRICS cooperation and deepening interactions across culture, youth, academia, and other sectors. Especially against the backdrop of a complex and volatile geopolitical landscape, such exchanges have become even more precious and essential.
Colleges and universities in China serve as important platforms for advancing people-to-people exchanges. In 2023, Peking University’s School of International Studies,together with the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding and the Office of International Cooperation,co-hosted the ‘Peking University Global People-to-People Exchange Forum. The Forum brought together nearly 60 university presidents and scholars from 13 institutions across 9 countries, including Nabil Fahmy, former Foreign Minister of Egypt, a newly admitted BRICS member. China will continue to boost cultural exchanges on multiple platforms. “Cultural BRICS” is poised to set a benchmark for civilizational exchange worldwide.
With several major energy producers now part of BRICS, how does China see the grouping shaping global energy governance, supply chains and pricing mechanisms in the coming decade?
Now, China has put forward the “Global Governance Initiative,” which offers a Chinese solution to addressing various global governance challenges. BRICS countries should strive to build a “Fair BRICS,” act as pioneers in the reform of the global governance system, and enhance the representativeness and voice of developing countries in global governance. Looking ahead, I believe that BRICS countries will transition from being “rule-takers” to “rule-shapers” in global energy governance.
For a long time, the pricing power of crude oil, the core of the global energy market, and the dominant role in international energy governance have been held by developed countries, led by the United States. The lack of initiative in energy pricing has left BRICS countries highly vulnerable to sharp fluctuations in global energy prices. With more major energy producers joining the BRICS mechanism, the Greater BRICS Partnership now brings together the world’s key energy producers and consumers, with its oil and gas production and energy consumption ranking among the highest globally. It has thus emerged as a major force driving the development of the global energy markets. By jointly formulating national energy cooperation plans and implementation frameworks, BRICS countries can advance a just energy transition, collectively address energy security challenges, deepen their participation in global energy governance, and enhance their discourse power in the global energy arena.
How significant do you consider academic, scientific, and higher education cooperation within BRICS in promoting innovation ecosystems, knowledge exchange, and long-term people-to-people connectivity?
Currently, the technological revolution is accelerating, and areas such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and green energy have become strategic priorities for BRICS countries. Academic, scientific, and higher education cooperation within BRICS carries immense strategic importance: the development of BRICS hinges on knowledge and talent, and the flow of knowledge and the cultivation of talent are the lifeline of BRICS cooperation. Most importantly, such cooperation lays a solid foundation for strengthening long-term people-to-people connectivity.
The deeper significance of higher education cooperation lies in shaping the cognitive frameworks of the next generation of decision-makers, scholars, and the general public. University partnerships, student exchanges, and joint training programs expose young people to diverse cultures during the critical period of their value formation. This immersive experience goes far beyond textbook knowledge, effectively breaking down stereotypes, eliminating misunderstandings, and fostering mutual trust. Only profound social recognition can sustain long-term international cooperation, and higher education cooperation is precisely an effective pathway for nurturing such recognition.
From a strategic standpoint, what should be the key priorities for China within BRICS over the coming years, and how do you foresee the grouping’s place in an increasingly fragmented yet multipolar international order?
From a strategic standpoint, China’s key priorities within BRICS in the coming years should focus on three areas: deepening development cooperation, strengthening coordination on global governance reform, and upholding the voice of the Global South. First, we should advance practical cooperation in areas such as trade and investment facilitation, the digital economy, green development, and infrastructure connectivity, so as to deliver tangible benefits to all member states. Second, BRICS countries need to enhance coordination in major multilateral institutions to make global governance more inclusive, representative, and responsive to the needs of developing countries. Third, we should uphold the basic principles of multilateralism, sovereign equality, and non-interference, so that BRICS can act as a stabilising force in international relations.
In a fragmented yet increasingly multipolar world, BRICS is becoming more important than ever. It is not only a key platform for emerging economies to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, but also an important pillar for maintaining global peace and stability. As major countries of the Global South, China and India both stand to benefit from a stronger, more united, and more influential BRICS.
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