Xi made the appeal on September 13, 2026, while attending Session II of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the session was titled 'Cementing the Foundation for BRICS Cooperation and Bolstering the Strength of the Global South.'
'A world without rules is like a crossroads without traffic lights,' Xi said, warning that disorder is almost inevitable when countries do not share common standards.
He argued that international rules should be written by all countries, rather than imposed by a few powerful states.
He called on Global South nations to uphold sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, peaceful settlement of disputes and the equal application of international law, without double standards.
Xi also connected the rules-based order to global institutions. He urged countries to uphold the authority of the United Nations, support reform of multilateral institutions, guide the World Trade Organization in the right direction and preserve principles such as most-favored-nation treatment.
Chinese President called for stronger support for the New Development Bank and a financial architecture giving developing countries greater representation and a stronger voice.
BRICS began as an idea before becoming a political cooperation forum. The acronym 'BRIC' was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in a paper that identified Brazil, Russia, India and China as fast-growing economies likely to reshape the global economy.
In 2006, the four countries created a formal cooperation framework, and their first leaders' summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010 and became a full member in 2011, changing BRIC into BRICS. The original founding members were therefore Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The bloc now has 11 full members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined in 2024, while Indonesia became the 11th member in 2025.
BRICS is not a military alliance or a conventional organisation with a binding treaty; it is a consensus-based platform for political, economic, financial and people-to-people cooperation.
Its economic weight explains why the bloc is seeking a larger role. India's government says the 11 members represent 49.5% of the world's population, 40% of global GDP and 26% of global trade.
Using IMF April 2026 projections measured at purchasing power parity, the members' economies add up to about $91.3 trillion in international dollars. China accounts for about $44.3 trillion, India $18.9 trillion, Russia $7.5 trillion, Indonesia $5.4 trillion and Brazil $5.2 trillion. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, South Africa, the UAE and Ethiopia add roughly $9.9 trillion combined.
Xi cited figures to illustrate China's development cooperation. He said that, since China launched the Global Development Initiative five years ago, it had implemented more than 2,000 projects with partners, trained over 200,000 professionals and benefited people in more than 120 countries.
He also said China had granted zero-tariff treatment to all 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with Beijing.
To strengthen the bloc, Xi proposed five initiatives: an open-source and inclusive artificial-intelligence community; a BRICS special economic-zone partnership and a forum on trade in services; a digital ecosystem cloud platform; cooperation on smart factories and manufacturing standards; and an engineer-training alliance together with youth exchanges in science and technology.
Xi had attended Session I of the summit on September 12, where he said BRICS had spent two decades responding collectively to financial crises, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
He urged the group to lead in innovation, peace, cultural exchange and global-governance reform.
The summit adopted the New Delhi Declaration and agreed that China will chair BRICS and host the 19th summit in 2027.
Source : https://new.igihe.com/english/xi-urges-brics-to-defend-rules-based-world-strengthen-global-south/
