ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Elissa Nadworny. India just wrapped up an annual summit that gathered leaders from 28 countries, including the presidents of China and Iran. The two-day gathering was for BRICS, which is a group of large- and mid-sized economies. It aims to counter long-standing Western dominance, particularly by the U.S., which wasn't there but still loomed large, as NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from New Delhi.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Music wafts as officers check bags to enter an event for BRICS, which stands for the countries that founded it nearly two decades ago - Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. It's since expanded to 11 members, and those countries represent half of the world's population. BRICS' lofty ambitions of a better world were sung about by entertainers at a dinner carried by Indian state-run media.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NAVARASA: (Singing) Will we reach for a better world together hand in hand?
HADID: Together hand in hand. Experts say BRICS has fallen far short of its ambitions, like creating more options for countries to trade without using the U.S. dollar. But the summit is still a place where leaders can meet and negotiate. The New Delhi meeting brought together Iran and some of the Persian Gulf countries it's been striking for months, including the United Arab Emirates. The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, met the Emirati crown prince in a one-on-one meeting. Soon after, the summit issued its final statement. BRICS members, including Iran and the Emirates, called for maximum restraint in the Mid East conflict.
DANIEL KRITENBRINK: That's quite a feat.
HADID: Retired U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink is a partner at the advisory firm, The Asia Group. He says getting Iran and the UAE to agree on anything reflects the depth of unease about the global disruption caused by the Trump administration.
KRITENBRINK: It starts with the trade war, of course, and now it's shifted to the devastating impacts of the Iran war, which are probably going to get worse based on the current trajectory.
HADID: Chinese President Xi Jinping was making his first visit to India since Indian and Chinese forces clashed along their disputed border in 2020. More than 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed. The fighting embittered relations for years. Retired Ambassador Kritenbrink says for both countries, Washington played a role in Xi's decision to visit India.
KRITENBRINK: Xi Jinping will be in Washington in less than two weeks. I think it's to his advantage to make sure he's stabilized relations.
HADID: For India, it's a way of showing the country has options. Relations with the Trump administration have been sour, particularly after the administration slapped 50% tariffs on India. Those tariffs were among those rescinded by the Supreme Court.
KRITENBRINK: I think disruption from Washington is playing a bit of a role in advancing that thaw. It's optionality. It's autonomy. It's increasing the leverage. It's balancing. It's hedging.
HADID: But this could be more optics than progress, says Sidharth Raimedhi. He's at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research, a New Delhi think tank. He says Xi visiting India, even a one-on-one meeting with Modi...
SIDHARTH RAIMEDHI: Does not represent a progress in India-China relations.
HADID: He points out China issued a statement after the meeting highlighting that the two countries were partners in development. India's statement emphasized finding a resolution to the border conflict with China. Raimedhi says he sees China's overtures to India as a way of signaling to other countries it's in their interest to cooperate with China.
RAIMEDHI: What China is saying is that please get in line or else your industries will rot and suffer. If you get in line, maybe you will become like China over time. We'll help you grow and develop.
HADID: Next year, China will be hosting the BRICS summit, and experts say countries like India are worried about China's growing dominance in the group. Sarang Shidore is director of the Global South Program at the Quincy Institute.
SARANG SHIDORE: Beijing will certainly look at it as an opportunity to showcase its leadership. They are certainly looking to take advantage of this opportunity given to them by, in some ways, U.S. missteps and in other ways, no doubt, its own rise.
HADID: And a group that was meant to help chip away at Western dominance of global affairs may transform into a platform for the dominance of the world's newest superpower - China. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, New Delhi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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