Solidarity, cooperation key to tackling challenges across the world, Xi says

The statement delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the virtual BRICS Summit holds significant importance in the current international landscape, demonstrating China's role as a responsible major country in promoting collaboration and pointing the way to jointly creating a better future, experts said.

President Xi attended the virtual BRICS Summit on Monday and delivered an important statement titled "Forging Ahead in Solidarity and Cooperation". Xi noted that transformation unseen in a century is accelerating across the world, and hegemonism, unilateralism, and protectionism are getting more and more rampant.

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BRICS countries, standing at the forefront of the Global South, should act on the BRICS Spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, jointly defend multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, advance greater BRICS cooperation, and build a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.

Zulkafil Hassan Khan, executive director of the Center for Knowledge and Public Policy, a Pakistani think tank, said that President Xi rightly emphasized greater solidarity, multilateralism, openness, and win-win cooperation at the time of global uncertainty, highlighting China's role as a defender of international justice and a true partner for the Global South.

The speech was timely and holistic, conveying a message of hope, harmony, economic globalization and international cooperation, he said.

Cavince Adhere, a Nairobi-based international relations scholar, said that this summit comes at a significant time for humanity. "It is a time when some leading economies that have benefited from the current world order have turned their back on globalization."

What China is trying to stress is that BRICS is encouraging countries to prioritize multilateralism. It's important that the BRICS countries demonstrate that it is possible to champion new forms of international cooperation and economic globalization, Adhere added.

In his statement, Xi said BRICS countries must stay committed to building an open global economy, so as to share opportunities and achieve win-win outcomes in openness, adding that the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core should be upheld and all forms of protectionism should be opposed.

John Queripel, an Australian social commentator and historian based in Newcastle, said that at a time when protectionist forces are calling for a retreat into national silos, building up walls against the world, President Xi has made a salient call upon the nations of the world to maintain an open economic order.

"Global prosperity and well-being depend on nations trading openly for mutual benefits. Breaking down trade barriers also has the added benefit of breaking down other barriers," he noted.

During the summit, Xi also called for upholding openness and win-win cooperation. Countries cannot thrive without an international environment of cooperation, and no country can afford to retreat to self-imposed isolation.

Denis Simon, a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, DC, said Xi's speech casts China as a defender of globalization. China's focus on win-win cooperation stands in stark contrast to Western moves toward what they call "de-risking" and "selective decoupling", said the US scholar.

ALSO READ: Full text of Xi's statement at virtual BRICS Summit

In his speech, Xi called for upholding solidarity and cooperation to foster synergy for common development. BRICS countries account for nearly half of the world's population, around 30 percent of global economic output.

Xi added that China is ready to work with fellow BRICS countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, advance high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation, leverage respective strengths, deepen practical cooperation, and make their business, financial, scientific and technological cooperation more productive.

Simon noted that Xi's speech serves as a road map for a stronger BRICS and a fairer global order, positioning China as a reliable anchor for emerging economies as they navigate global challenges.

Edith Mutethya in Nairobi and Yang Ran in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at yifanxu@chinadailyusa.com