Experts say stronger representation good for Global South as Indonesia formally joins group
As 2025 gets underway, BRICS has continued its expansion, with Indonesia formally joining as its newest full member and eight other nations becoming partner countries. This demonstrates the group’s growing vitality and strengthened representation, influence, and appeal on the global stage, experts said.
The move, regarded as a milestone in BRICS history, was also seen as signaling a gradual shift in world power dynamics, as the grouping continues to attract Global South nations.
Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group now accounts for nearly half of the planet’s population, over a third of the global economy, and more than half of the world’s economic growth.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-most populous nation, Indonesia is the first Southeast Asian country to join BRICS as a full member since the group opened the door to expansion in 2023. Meanwhile, the new BRICS partner states include Malaysia and Thailand.
Last year, BRICS admitted several new members, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran, while more than 30 nations have formally applied to join.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said on Jan 7 that Jakarta sees its membership as a strategic step to improve the collaboration and cooperation with other developing nations, as well as a commitment to strengthening multilateral cooperation to create a global structure that is more inclusive and fairer.
As BRICS enters a new era of greater cooperation, China has on multiple occasions expressed its readiness to work with the BRICS family to embrace the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.
“The future holds tremendous promise for greater BRICS cooperation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news briefing on Jan 7.
At the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, last October, President Xi Jinping called for high-quality development of BRICS cooperation, calling on BRICS members to build the multilateral mechanism into a major venue of solidarity and cooperation for the Global South and a vanguard of global governance reform.
The Chinese leader presented a broad vision at the summit for BRICS countries to stay committed to peace, innovation, green development, justice, and closer people-to-people exchanges, in a bid to help BRICS, the leading echelon of the Global South, play a bigger role in building a shared future for humanity.
Wang Youming, director of the Department for Developing Countries Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said that in light of the rise of the Global South, China has called for advancing the process of expanding BRICS membership and establishing a partner country mechanism to enhance the representation and voice of developing nations in global governance, foster greater democracy in international relations, and promote a multipolar world.
The expansion of BRICS to Southeast Asia for the first time also means that the influence and voice of the BRICS countries in international and regional affairs have been enhanced, Wang added.
Zhu Jiejin, a professor at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs, highlighted that BRICS’ adoption of a new governance model — characterized by equal cooperation, mutual respect, collective decision-making, and policy coordination — has enhanced its attractiveness.
He cited the New Development Bank, the first multilateral development bank established entirely by emerging economies and developing nations.
“Unlike the World Bank, the NDB ensures equality by granting all founding member states equal voting rights, with no country holding veto power. This institutional framework guarantees fairness, mutual benefit, and respect among its members,” Zhu said.
Official data showed that since its inception in 2015, the NDB has financed over 100 projects, with total loans reaching approximately $35 billion.
BRICS countries endowed with abundant natural resources, advanced manufacturing, vast markets, and technological advantages have transcended the outdated concept of “winner takes all” and embraced a model of complementary strengths, said Liu Ying, a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China.
She added that BRICS has become a major force in opposing protectionism while expanding the global economic pie.
Economist Alexey Saliychuk hailed China in an earlier interview for championing innovation and green development to boost growth among the BRICS family. He mentioned China’s success in producing electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products, calling them “the backbone of the green transition of the world economy”.
China announced in October the establishment of several key institutions, including a BRICS Digital Ecosystem Cooperation Network, and welcomed active participation from all interested parties to drive the high-quality upgrading of BRICS cooperation.
Lan Qingxin, director of the University of International Business and Economics’ BRICS Research Center, said, “The open and inclusive nature of BRICS cooperation continues to attract more countries to join, especially amid intensified strategic competition among major powers and escalating regional conflicts.”
On critical issues such as geopolitical crises, an enlarged BRICS has played a leading role in amplifying the voices of Global South countries in advocating for fairness and justice, Lan said.
