India to repeat demand for anti-terror steps at BRICS

NEW DELHI: Being held in the shadow of Dokalam border standoff that led to tensions for 75 days between two of the five members of the BRICS, the forthcoming summit in Xiamen (September 3-5) has a special significance.

While all eyes will be on the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, India will yet again reiterate the demand for concrete measures against terror infrastructure in Af-Pak region and seek broader action plan against worldwide extremism.

The MEA on Friday hinted that relevant global challenges including terror are on the table from the Indian side for the summit. When asked about China's comment on Thursday that it will not be appropriate to discuss Pakistan's counter-terrorism records, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said he cannot pre-empt what Modi will say during his interventions at the restricted and plenary sessions of the summit. But he was quick to state tthat India's position on terrorism has been very clear and it has been raising the issue at various multilateral forums.


Modi and Xi are expected to meet on Monday in the coastal city of Xiamen on the sidelines of the summit. The meeting is expected to be marked by discussions on CBMs as the two leaders may decide to have a new mechanism to address trijunctions along their Line of Actual Control. Besides Dokalam (Bhutan), the other two trijunctions that exist involve Nepal and Myanmar. The standoff ended on August 28.

Held against the backdrop of Xi’s mega OBOR initiative, New Delhi may express reservations at the summit on connectivity initiatives like OBOR that are being implemented in a unilateral and non-transparent fashion. All eyes will be on any reference by Modi at the summit plenaries on attempts to change status quo along disputed boundaries. The BRICS process, however, is expected to contribute to confidence building between neighbours.

Modi is also likely to meet the Russian President Vladimir Putin besides leaders of Egypt and Thailand who will be present as BRICS outreach format. Egypt, Thailand, Guinea (African Union chair), Tajikistan and Mexico will be China’s BRICS outreach for emerging markets. Modi may also meet presidents of Brazil and South Africa.

China as a host will seek to focus on South-South cooperation and sustainable development. The theme of 9th BRICS summit is ‘Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future.

The summit’s agenda under the theme includes discussions on economic collaboration, political and security cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, and probably also issues of particular concern for China and India like renewable energy and coping with climate change. The five nations are also expected to discuss setting up a BRICS credit rating agency as an alternative to the big three Western agencies.