The announcement made in Tokyo on Monday by the United States President Joe Biden about the formation of a new economic block named Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) has signalled the arrival of a new economic arrangement in the India-Pacific region to counter the growing influence of China. This block of 13 initial partners including the USA, Japan and India is also a challenge to the five-nation BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which have been holding summits regularly and holding discussions for economic cooperation. Significantly, India is a powerful member of the BRICS and simultaneously, the country has become an initial partner of the IPEF whose objective is to solely implement the economic programs which suit the United States administration in pursuing its global economic agenda. Already, following the war in Ukraine which has just crossed three months on May 24, the NATO is being expanded and the QUAD has all the potential to function as an Asian NATO. In that global context, the formation of the IPEF is another expansionary move by the US to impose its political and economic hegemony on the Indo-Pacific nations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has violated all international norms by invading Ukraine but no rational observer can ignore the role which the wet and NATO played before the February 24 attack and also in the last three months to expand the scope of the war and constantly helping the Ukraine Government through the supply of arms and ammunitions as also funds to continue the war rather than holding serious discussions at negotiating table. NATO is taking full advantage of this Russian blunder by mobilising more troops on the borders with Russia disturbing the decades-old status quo. BRICS block cannot take the formation of IPEF as an ordinary economic cooperation development. The members have to formulate new strategies and expand the scope of BRICS to admit new members. China’s permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun welcomed the potential expansion of the so-called BRICS group of emerging economies. He expressed warm greetings to Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand who met Chinese officials to discuss joining the bloc.
That the IPEF is a challenger to BRICS – there is no doubt about that. China is the driver of BRICS and so long India and China have remained the two major countries who contributed to the GDP growth of the world economy in a substantial manner. Among the BRICS members, only India is a signatory to the IPEF. The question is what will happen to India’s standing in BRICS once it becomes a signatory to any economic program aimed at countering China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address on Monday committed India to work with all Indo-Pacific countries in supporting resilient supply chains, a major focus area of IPEF meant to provide an alternative to the Chinese approach. In the last eight years, there has been a slowdown in the global economy as also two years of a pandemic but the BRICS nations managed the economy despite some hiccups. Analysts feel that the time is ripe for the expansion of BRICS and to take measures to make the bloc more focused and dynamic.
