BRICS eyes expansion, but without a coherent agenda. Meanwhile, rhetoric about respect for international law sours beside Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday unexpectedly skipped a business forum of the BRICS economic group in South Africa, sending his commerce minister instead to deliver a fiery speech in his name that decried US hegemony.
While he missed the event, Xi attended a dinner hosted by Ramaphosa later in the evening with leaders of Brazil and India and Russia s foreign minister.