Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday praised the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations for demonstrating “resilience and vitality” amid complex global challenges even as he urged the international community to reject “Cold War mentality” and accept “true multilaterism”.
Delivering the opening remarks at the opening of the 14th Brics virtual summit, Xi said, “Facing the formidable and complex circumstances, Brics countries have embraced the Brics spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation enhanced solidarity and coordination and jointly tackled the challenges”.
Xi said the challenges facing the countries included the “continued spread of Covid-19, a tortuous world economic recovery, and increasingly salient peace and security issues.”
“The Brics mechanism has demonstrated resilience and vitality. Brics cooperation has achieved sound progress and results,” Xi said, according to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry.
He called on Brics countries to jointly safeguard world peace and tranquillity.
The opening session of the summit was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Chinese president urged the international community to reject the “Cold War mentality”, oppose “unilateral sanctions” and discard small circles of hegemony, the second day in a row that he appeared to criticise the actions of Western countries, especially the US, against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Xi urged the “world to reject the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose unilateral sanctions and abuse of sanctions, and reject the small circles built around [hegemony] by forming one big family belonging to a community with a shared future for humanity”.
China has consistently and strongly criticised Western economic sanctions imposed against Russia for invading Ukraine and his two keynote speeches in the past 24 hours, Xi has further cemented Beijing’s support for Moscow.
The Chinese President said the 14th Brics summit is being held at a critical juncture and the five countries, as major developing countries, “need to act with a sense of responsibility to bring positive, stabilising and constructive strength to the world”.
On the Covid-19 pandemic, Xi said there’s need to build a “strong line of defence against the virus, enhance international Covid response cooperation, and jointly defend people’s lives and health”.
