Xi calls on BRICS countries to jointly defend multilateralism

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a virtual BRICS Summit and delivers an important speech in Beijing on September 8, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the BRICS countries to jointly defend multilateralism and the multilateral trading system as he attended a virtual BRICS Summit in Beijing on Monday.

"At this critical juncture, 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," Xi said, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xi called on the BRICS countries to uphold multilateralism to defend international fairness and justice.

He said BRICS countries should uphold openness and win-win cooperation to safeguard the international economic and trade order.

BRICS countries should uphold solidarity and cooperation to foster synergy for common development, Xi added, per Xinhua.

The summit was chaired by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with participants including Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, as well as representatives from India and Ethiopia.

The BRICS cooperation mechanism is an important platform for solidarity and cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries. In the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism, BRICS countries jointly safeguard multilateralism, defend fairness and justice, promote common development, and become a positive and stable force for good in international affairs, Lin Jian, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference on Monday.

Some Chinese observers pointed out that this virtual event comes at a moment when cooperation is deepening and accelerating within the group, and holding the meeting in this format carries both innovative and practical significance.

The timing is also closely tied to the 80th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), with 80th session of the UN General Assembly scheduled in September.

Against this backdrop, BRICS leaders are expected to coordinate positions and reach consensus on supporting multilateralism and reaffirming the UN's central role in the global system, some observers said.

"The virtual meeting will help anchor the overall direction of BRICS, enabling the group to produce more practical outcomes and offer solutions to major global political, economic, and security issues representing the Global South," Wang Lei, director of the BRICS Cooperation Research Center at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.

China plays a pivotal role in BRICS cooperation, not only guiding its direction but also advancing the mechanism by providing public goods and ideas to support the development of BRICS countries, Wang Lei said.

"Looking ahead, China will continue to uphold its leadership role, contributing forward-looking ideas and proposals to BRICS and the wider Global South, driving cooperation into a new stage and promoting common development," Wang Lei said.

Greater cooperation

The growing BRICS group gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the 17th BRICS Summit in July, and signed a joint declaration encompassing 126 commitments covering global governance, finance, health, artificial intelligence, climate change, and other strategic areas. The document sealed the group's commitment to strengthening multilateralism, defending international law, and striving for a more equitable global order.

In the joint declaration, the BRICS countries voiced serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules, reiterating their support for the rules-based, open, transparent, fair, inclusive, equitable, non-discriminatory, consensus-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core.

"The core issue of the summit remains how to respond to the rise of trade protectionism. At this summit, BRICS is expected to reach an important consensus on working more closely together and boosting trade among BRICS countries to confront current challenges," Wang Youming, Director of the Institute of Developing Countries at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

President Xi highlighted during the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024 that BRICS members should build BRICS for peace and act as guardians of common security, build BRICS for innovation and act as pioneers for high-quality development, build a green BRICS and be practitioners of sustainable development, and build BRICS for justice and lead the reform of the global governance system, Xinhua said.

Building on those objectives mentioned during last year's Kazan summit, this time the focus will be on practical steps against unilateralism in trade, Wang said, noting that with the greater BRICS framework now strengthened by three rounds of expansion and the establishment of a BRICS partner system, the priority is to make cooperation more pragmatic and effective.

Facing the need to further upgrade the quality of cooperation, BRICS countries have been exploring effective approaches through their own efforts, and this summit is a clear reflection of that endeavor, the expert noted.

Focusing on economic and trade cooperation, the summit aims to tackle major challenges in these fields, not only laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of BRICS cooperation but also enhancing its appeal to member and partner countries, Wang Lei said.

Role of Global South

The virtual summit was also convened following the SCO summit in Tianjin where President Xi proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), calling on countries to work in concert for a more just and equitable global governance system. Some observers said the GGI also reflects the aspirations of majority of countries, especially those in the Global South.

"China has always played a crucial role in BRICS — not only as a source of key ideas but also as a driver of concrete cooperation," Wang Lei said.

"BRICS is aligned with the trend of the times, stands at the forefront in representing the Global South, and works through internal cooperation to push global governance toward greater fairness and justice. Achieving constructive change in this direction has always been our consistent goal," Wang Lei added.

From Johannesburg in 2023 to the Kazan meeting in 2024, and in Rio de Janeiro this year, BRICS has expanded and introduced mechanisms such as BRICS plus and partner countries, giving the Global South a stronger voice, observers said.

Li Yu also contributed to the story