BRICS Expands Amidst Deep Disputes and Competition Among Member Countries

The BRICS was originally a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. After 2024, it is joined by Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. Saudi Arabia is invited but has not become a full member. The grouping claims to improve economic cooperation and the global order, but there are many deep disputes and differences between member countries. These disputes often hinder the issuance of joint statements. The rift in the India-China border dispute - it is the oldest and largest bilateral dispute of BRICS. The two countries have a decades-long dispute over the Line of Actual Control in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, etc. Soldiers were killed on both sides in the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. Tensions still persist, although troops have been withdrawn in some places. Both countries also compete for leadership in the Global South. India does not want to make BRICS an anti-West forum, while China wants to take it in the same direction. Just a few days before 2024, the dispute between the two countries in Aruchal Pradesh, Iran and Israel were involved in the 2026 conflict between the two countries in West Asia.