New Delhi: The next meeting of BRICS, an organization of 5 countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, will be virtual. This time the meeting is going to be chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping. This meeting can be held at the end of June. According to the news of the Tribune, due to the online meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not go to China to attend the meeting. Recently, the Foreign Minister of China came to Delhi and tried to persuade India that PM Modi should go to Beijing and attend this meeting. But India had made it clear that it cannot proceed with restoring normal relations with China by bypassing the border dispute. The BRICS summit being online is also being linked to the Russia-Ukraine war.
India has taken a very tough stand since China’s action on the Ladakh border. India has limited relations with China after the Chinese army occupied several areas of India in Doklam in 2017 and violent clashes between soldiers in Galvan in June 2020. For the first time after raising the head of this dispute, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came to Delhi on 25 March. Indian External Affairs Minister S. During his meeting with Jaishankar, he had insisted on the restoration of relations. The Chinese Foreign Minister had tried his best to persuade India to join PM Modi’s visit to China at the BRICS summit. But Jaishankar had made it clear that India cannot ignore the border dispute. First China withdraws its army from Ladakh, after that the restoration of relations will be considered. During this, the Chinese Foreign Minister had also tried to meet PM Modi, but India did not give time.
The Hindu quoted sources as saying that the date of June 23-24 has been suggested for the BRICS summit. Although the date is not finalized yet. Last year also the BRICS summit was held online. Then India led it. This is the first time that China will preside over the BRICS summit after the dispute over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China deepened. Apart from refusing to go to China for the BRICS summit, India is taking another step to send a clear message to the dragon country. Before the BRICS summit, PM Modi will visit Japan on May 24 to attend the Quad summit.
Another reason is being seen for the BRICS summit to be virtual. The Tribune quoted sources as saying that after the start of the Ukraine war, countries such as India, China, Brazil, and South Africa are under pressure to minimize contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Had the BRICS summit been held directly in China and PM Modi would have gone there, he would have had direct meetings with Putin and the Brazilian and South African heads of state, including the Chinese President. Western countries like America do not want this. They fear that Putin may take advantage of this meeting to weaken the edge of international sanctions against him. But now with the BRICS summit becoming virtual, this fear has reduced. Putin is going to attend such a meeting for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war.
