During this year’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, it was decided to expand cooperation with new partner countries.Out of 30 interested nations, 13 were granted partner status, which, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, could serve as a gateway to future full membership.
The 13 new partners are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – countries that mainly represent regions often referred to in the BRICS cooperation as the “Global South”.
Among the partner countries, four Southeast Asian nations in particular – Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand – are now expected to strengthen their economic cooperation within the region through their partnership. Turkey and Belarus, both bordering Europe, also appear to be interesting additions to the BRICS circle, not least from a geostrategic but also, of course, an economic perspective.
The BRICS, which originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has grown rapidly in recent years. Earlier this year, countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined as full members. However, in June, the group decided to pause new membership applications to focus on integrating these new members. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the new partner country status as a potential gateway for countries to apply for full membership in the future.
No alternative payment system
The Kazan summit also discussed an alternative payment system between the BRICS countries, but this did not materialize.
– As for SWIFT or some alternatives, we have not created and are not creating any alternatives for anything, but nevertheless the issue is very important today, Putin said.
The BRICS summit also addressed a range of global issues, including economic cooperation, so-called sustainable development and local currency trade. The participation of partner countries is part of the BRICS’ stated ambition to develop a more inclusive and equitable global system and to reduce dependence on Western economic institutions.
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China’s Victory Day parade in early September drew wide attention both at home and abroad. While Chinese audiences saw it as a solemn moment of remembrance and confidence, some foreign media outlets rushed to label it a “show of force,” a “signal to the West,” or even evidence of new global division.
These interpretations ignore the deeper significance of the event and the consistent principles guiding China’s approach to global affairs.
At its heart, the parade was an act of remembrance—marking China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the global triumph over fascism. It was a tribute to the sacrifices of millions and a powerful reminder that peace is never easily won.
The presence of numerous foreign leaders in Beijing during the parade was a statement in itself. They were there not to take sides or escalate tensions, but to stand together in honoring the past and fostering a future built on peace. Their participation underscored a shared commitment to dialogue, not division.
Building capabilities to uphold principles
The weapons and equipment displayed at the parade should be understood within the framework of China’s long-standing defense policy, one based on peace and restraint.
Consider China’s nuclear posture: China remains the only nuclear-weapon state to publicly commit to a No-First-Use policy under any circumstances. This reflects a profound belief that nuclear weapons must never be used, and that a nuclear war can have no winners. China’s nuclear arsenal is kept strictly at the minimum level required for national security.
In terms of conventional forces, the unveiling of new-generation tanks, aircraft, and missile systems such as hypersonic weapons does showcase progress in China’s military modernization. Yet this progress is guided by a doctrine of active self-defense. These systems are designed to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity, not to project power globally. They serve as an anchor for national security and a stabilizer for regional security, deterring interference rather than provoking conflict.
The parade also featured unmanned and AI-enabled systems, highlighting China’s progress in technology and innovation. Importantly, this display went hand-in-hand with China’s call for international dialogue on regulating military uses of artificial intelligence. China has consistently advocated for a balanced approach—one that prevents misuse and humanitarian risks without stifling beneficial technological progress.
A message for the future
Yes, the parade was grand in scale. Yes, it displayed advanced weaponry systems. But above all, it conveyed a message of responsibility, transparency, and an enduring commitment to peace.
In times of rising mistrust and uncertainty, that message carries weight. The real choice before the international community is not between holding parades or staying silent, but between pursuing dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or suspicion. By honoring history and demonstrating its defensive posture, China has extended a hand of reassurance, not a fist of provocation.
The lesson of history is clear: peace is built through openness, cooperation, and mutual respect. This parade was, in that spirit, a step forward—a visible pledge of China’s dedication to a peaceful and stable world.
Hua Gesheng
About the author
Hua Gesheng is a commentator on international and multilateral affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News Agency, Global Times, China Daily, CGTN, etc.
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German politician Friedrich Merz advocates for welfare cuts while simultaneously wanting to increase both Ukraine aid and military spending.
Liberal democracy is under attack from new “autocratic alliances”, claimed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this week. In the same breath, he acknowledged that the West’s attractiveness is “noticeably diminishing” and that the world no longer looks up to Western values in the same way as before.
Former BlackRock executive Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron painted a dark picture of the West’s crisis on Friday. Both leaders claim that liberal democracy is under attack from various directions, and according to Merz, it is an “axis of autocratic states” that now challenges the liberal world order.
— The centers of power in the world are shifting to an extent not seen since the end of the Cold War. An axis of autocratic states that challenges the liberal order around the world is directly challenging Western democracies, he claimed.
However, why this axis has formed was not explained in detail. In the same speech, he was forced to acknowledge that the West’s attractiveness is declining:
— The radiance of what we in the West call liberal democracy is noticeably diminishing. It is no longer a given that the world will orient itself towards us, that it will follow our values of liberal democracy.
Merz has also recently stated that Germany can no longer afford to finance the welfare state while advocating for investments in military rearmament and continued support for Ukraine.
Macron finds convenient scapegoat
Macron spoke of a “degeneration of democracy” in Europe and found a convenient scapegoat in social media platforms.
— We’ve been guilty of handing over our public democratic space to social networks owned by big American entrepreneurs and Chinese firms, he said.
However, the possibility that the West’s own policies contributed to this development was not addressed at all by Merz or Macron.
— Democratic debate is turning into a debate of hatred, continued the French president.
Merz, Macron, Polish Prime Minister Tusk and British Prime Minister Starmer. Photo: Number 10/CC BY 2.0
Putin sees multipolar world
Russian President Vladimir Putin presented a completely different analysis on Thursday. At the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, he described the development as natural.
— Multipolarity has become a direct consequence of attempts to establish and preserve global hegemony, a response to the obsessive desire to arrange everyone into a single hierarchy, with Western countries at the top, Putin said.
Putin also claimed that democracy is in decline in the West. As an example, he mentioned Romania, where the court invalidated the presidential election last year.
Merz also acknowledged that Europe has become “economically weaker” and that the social promises made are “so much harder to fulfill today than they used to be”.
The solution? Europe must “refocus on its economic competitiveness” and “oppose a new wave of protectionism in the world”. This is essentially the same mantra European leaders have repeated for decades – so far with limited success.
The multipolar world order is already a reality and “no one is ready to play by rules set some place overseas”, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared during the annual Valdai Forum.
He urged European politicians to stop their “anti-Russian hysteria”, claimed that 44,700 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in September, and called US President Donald Trump a “comfortable conversation partner”.
The world is currently undergoing extensive transformation and the already established multipolar world order is a direct consequence of Western powers’ attempts to establish global hegemony, Putin argued during a speech at the Valdai Forum on Thursday.
The Russian president also outlined the Russian armed forces’ alleged successes in Ukraine and Kiev’s losses, and urged European leaders to address their own countries’ problems instead of engaging in what he described as “anti-Russian hysteria”.
Putin also expressed positive views about the new American administration’s pragmatic approach to international issues.
Nothing is predetermined
The current global situation, characterized by rapid and often dramatic changes, requires readiness for all developments. Individual responsibility is particularly important and “the stakes in the current situation are extremely high”, Putin said.
A multipolar world has already taken shape, according to the Russian president. “Virtually nothing is predetermined. Everything could unfold in different ways. Much depends on the precision, deliberateness, restraint, and thoughtfulness of each international actor’s actions”, he said.
Putin emphasized that in a multipolar world, all countries must seek common ground for their interests. “No one is ready to play by rules set some place overseas”, he stated.
— The relationships within the global majority, the prototype of political practices necessary and effective in a polycentric world, are based on pragmatism and realism, a rejection of bloc philosophy, and the absence of rigid, unilaterally imposed obligations or models with senior and junior partners, Putin explained.
He called the “bloc mentality” that certain countries have in order to trigger confrontation meaningless and anachronistic. New international organizations like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are developing today in “the spirit of 21st-century diplomacy”, Putin said. “They are not against anyone; they are for themselves”.
On October 1, the he Plenary Session within the framework of the Valdai Club’s 22nd Annual Meetingvtook place in Sochi, featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin stated that the power of the US and its allies reached its peak at the end of the 20th century, but that there is not, and never will be, a force that can govern the world and dictate to everyone “how to breathe”.
— Attempts were made, but they all ended in failure, he said.
The Russian president directed sharp criticism at European politicians who he believes are trying to “patch up holes in the European edifice” by incorrectly creating an image of Russia as an enemy.
— The ruling elites of united Europe continue to whip up hysteria. It turns out that war with the Russians is almost on their doorstep. They repeat this nonsense, this mantra, over and over again, Putin said.
— Frankly, I feel like telling them, calm down, get some rest, and finally, deal with your own issues, he continued.
Russia’s leader also warned that Moscow is closely following the escalating militarization of Europe, and that Russia’s countermeasures “will not be long in coming”. He noted that there are those who hope to deliver a “strategic defeat” to Russia, but argued that even the “most obtuse hardheads” will soon realize that this is impossible.
The situation in Ukraine
Putin placed responsibility for the failed efforts to stop hostilities on “the minority, not the majority”.
— This primarily refers to Europe, which constantly escalates the conflict; there can be seen no other goal that they pursue today, he said.
The Russian president accused the West and their “servants in Kiev” of treating the Ukrainian people as expendable, a “destructive tool in others’ hands”. Putin also stated that Russian armed forces are steadily creating a buffer zone along the entire front line.
— this work is proceeding smoothly, calmly, and according to plan… As of today, the Russian army is the most combat-ready army, Putin claimed, asserting that while Russian armed forces have indeed suffered losses, these are much smaller than those of the Ukrainian military.
Russian troops have, according to him, captured two-thirds of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region and taken Kirovsk in Donetsk under their full control. The settlement of Yunakovka in the Sumy region is under Russian army control and Volchansk in the Kharkiv region is half-controlled.
Russian troops have entered Seversk, Konstantinovka and Krasnoarmeysk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and need only to liberate 0.13 percent of the territory in the Luhansk People’s Republic.
He claimed there is “confusion in the ranks of the Ukrainian military” and that they do not understand what is happening on the front line. The Ukrainian army lost around 44,700 soldiers at the engagement line in September, where irreversible losses accounted for half of this figure, according to Putin. From January to August, a total of 150,000 Ukrainian military personnel deserted, he claimed.
Pragmatic view of the US
Putin stated that Russia and the US have different views on many “global problems,” but that “for major powers, this is actually normal”. Solutions to contradictions that would satisfy both sides are entirely possible to find, he argued.
— Whatever the disagreements, if we treat each other with respect, then bargaining, even the toughest and most persistent, will still aim to reach a consensus, and this means that mutually acceptable solutions are possible.
He appreciated that the current American authorities, unlike their predecessors, express their ambitions clearly and distinctly.
— It’s always better to clearly understand what other persons are up to and what they’re trying to achieve than to try to discern the real meaning in a series of understatements, ambiguities, and vague hints.
— We see that the current US administration is guided primarily by the interests of its own country, he continued.
During a visit to Alaska, the restoration of bilateral relations was discussed, since according to Putin they are “not just at an impasse, but at the lowest level in all of recent memory”. Putin further described American President Donald Trump as a comfortable conversation partner who “knows how to listen and hear.”
Furthermore, Russia is ready to support President Trump’s proposal to resolve the conflict in the Gaza Strip if it leads to the creation of two separate states, since this step is key to a “final resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, Putin said.
The new Silk Road, also known as Belt and Road, is not just an infrastructure project but also one of the foremost international meeting places outside the Western bloc that currently involves over 150 countries.
This year’s media forum in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwestern China, is the ninth in the series and is attended by media organizations from 87 different countries, including The Nordic Times.
The name of the BRI initiative or less formally “the new Silk Road”, alludes to the famous trade route that for one and a half millennia linked China, Europe and Africa until the 1400s when the Ottoman Empire completely blocked the trade routes.
BRI is an official Chinese economic and diplomatic initiative originally formulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 with a stated foundation in so-called multilateralism, in simpler terms based on dialogue and voluntary exchanges between independent actors. In a broader sense, BRI’s purpose is described as promoting intercultural communication and exchange between nations and civilizations “to contribute to mutual benefits and understanding” and through this method improve conditions for peaceful development and long-term global stability.
A series of major infrastructural projects have emerged from the initiative, with the long-term ambition to create modern transport and trade routes between Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Among the most well-known infrastructure projects already completed are the railway from China to Laos, as well as on Indonesia’s main island of Java and the ports of Hambantota International in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan. Hungary and Serbia have been first in Europe to embrace the initiative on both infrastructural and political levels, where a high-speed railway is currently being built between the countries’ capitals Budapest and Belgrade in cooperation with Chinese engineers. The port of Piraeus near Athens, Greece has also become part of the initiative and is currently one of Europe’s largest ports.
Sweden is among the countries, primarily from the US-dominated Western bloc, that have currently chosen not to join the initiative and primarily describe the project as a Chinese “scam” to put countries in debt. Among Western European countries, the only infrastructural participant is currently Luxembourg, which with its large airport has significant air traffic to China.
The new Silk Road encompasses not only infrastructure but also other forums that constitute the currently most significant official international meeting places in China. This year’s forum with a media theme is being held right now in Kunming in southern China between September 16 and 17 with a total of 165 media channels from 87 different countries present, with many leading media outlets primarily from South America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, from Russia this year including news agencies Ria and Tass.
The Nordic Times is so far one of the few media houses from the increasingly isolated Western bloc that is present, in company with among others Discovery Channel and Warner Bros. From Western Europe, there are otherwise a number of smaller media houses present from countries including Denmark, France, Ireland and Germany.
Alongside the media organizations, representatives of a number of state-owned corporate giants involved in the various projects also participated, such as Energy China, China National Nuclear Corporation, China Changan Automobile Group and China Communication Construction Company.
The Nordic Times was also present at last year’s conference in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
