It’s high time PH joined Brics

For the Philippines in particular, the benefits of BRICS membership were highlighted at the group’s summit held last week in Kazan, Russia.

According to a communiqué issued following the event, Russian President Vladimir Putin deliberately organized the summit to show the world that US sanctions against Russia for conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine have failed. In fact, early in the war, when Russia responded with sanctions of its own by cutting off gas supplies to NATO countries, people there felt terrible pain from not having enough heat to withstand the cold of winter. According to the general opinion of political scientists, NATO sanctions then had a boomerang effect. It turned out that Russia is practically a monopolist of gas supplies to Europe, and in the case of oil, it is the second largest supplier. This must mean that, from an economic point of view, the war in Ukraine takes Russia miles ahead. The reason Russia has held back, so to speak, is because, as Putin put it, aware of Russia’s defense capabilities, “I will not be the first to use nuclear energy. And I will not be the second.”

Simply put, Putin meant the truly destructive power of nuclear weapons, such that their defensive power cannot but lead to the simultaneous destruction of nuclear weapons. Consequently, there will be no reuse of nuclear potential. The enemy may dare to attack Russia with a nuclear bomb, and Russia has the ability to repel it. But, according to Putin’s calculations, such a potential is itself nuclear power that defeats enemy forces. The result is mutual destruction, preventing a second attack.

For this alone, BRICS deserves every support.

A significant achievement of the BRICS summit in Kazan was that China and India were able to resolve their long-standing dispute over the Himalayan region, which covers the two countries. In past skirmishes, Chinese soldiers have resorted to throwing stones when their anger became uncontrollable. This, of course, was much better than shooting from cannons, which at some moments threatened to actually explode. With the emergence of BRICS, shooting at each other may become a thing of the past for India and China. Since the two countries decided to resolve their conflict through diplomacy and dialogue, the world has become one wonderful place to live.

According to Reuters, “Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi used the BRICS summit in Russia on Wednesday to demonstrate ambitions for more harmonious relations between the world’s two most populous countries after years of hostility.”

The meeting between Xi Jinping and Modi, who Reuters reports have not held formal talks in five years, was one of the highlights of the summit that the Philippines could take advantage of if President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. truly wants to resolve the country’s differences with China. . The tensions that brought the Chinese and Indian militaries to the point of shooting years ago certainly looked more like war than the periodic skirmishes between the Chinese Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) over their countries’ dispute in the South China Sea. . However intense these skirmishes were, they never went beyond the civil application of maritime laws. If the Philippines were part of BRICS, it would be a strong guarantee that it would never be inclined to engage militarily with China. What is happening today is that China’s purely civilian law enforcement efforts in the South China Sea are being blown out of proportion by PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela and others. as the war progresses according to the dictates of the United States. Thus, the strategic goal is achieved – to involve the Philippines in a war with China by promoting American hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region. To its credit, China has shown great restraint so far to avoid a military confrontation with the Philippines. If China were Israel and viewed US EDCA sites as Hezbollah or Hamas military bases that threatened its security, it would have already beaten America to the punch by destroying those sites in a missile war. But true to its previous commitment to the Philippines to put aside differences in favor of dialogue and cooperation, China has kept its cool, so to speak. As a result, the Philippines was spared the death and destruction that Israel now continually inflicts on Lebanon and Palestine.

However, with the Philippines constantly clinging to the strings of the United States’ apron, the danger of a Philippine war with China remains highly likely. Of course, the Typhon missile system that the US installed during recent military exercises in the Ilocos region has not been removed; calls for its dismantling, like those of the Philippine Institute for Strategic Studies’ Asian Century Anti-War Peace Caravan, fall on deaf ears.

How long can China maintain its tolerance? Time and time again, it has strongly expressed its opposition to EDCA bases, but recently National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said, “No one can dictate to us.”

If the Philippines becomes a member of BRICS, it will not be a case of China dictating to the Philippines. Rather, it will look like China and India resorting to dialogue to resolve their differences.

Let’s start with the fact that BRICS is an anti-American hegemony formed mainly to create a world monetary system as an alternative to the dollar. To this day, the US is able to exercise significant control over the global economy through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, to which much of the world is indebted. The Philippines’ total external debt, mainly to the IMF and the World Bank, stood at US$128.7 billion at the end of March 2024, up US$3.3 billion (or 2.6 percent) from US$125.4 billion USA at the end of December 2023. Those controls weakened in the last year of the previous U.S. administration when, in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s high tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing ordered all imports from China to be paid for in yuan. Russia has also, as a result of sanctions imposed by the US over the war in Ukraine, ordered that imports from the country, especially gas and oil, be paid for in Russian rubles.

From the original five members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (hence the acronym BRICS, coined by economist Jim O’Neill in 2001), the group has now grown to 30 and counting.

The challenge facing the Philippines now is to dare to become 31st.

Paraphrase Xi Jinping to summarize the harmonious relationship China and India have achieved today. Just replace “India” with “Philippines”.

“A correct understanding of the historical trends and direction of development of relations between China and India meets the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples.”

The Philippines can only lose its chains with America.

Filipinos have everything to gain from the world.