BRICS expansion is win for China, with Brazil getting little in return

The members of the BRICS announced an expansion of their international club on Thursday, inviting six new entrants. By January 1, 2024, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will join the group’s quintet of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

There are doubts about whether a larger BRICS would benefit Brazil, and the declaration issued at the end of this week’s summit in Johannesburg failed to address one of the country’s main diplomatic ambitions: explicit Chinese support for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Of the six new members, two — Ethiopia and Iran — abstained from voting on the most recent General Assembly resolution demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from Ukraine. The other four voted in favor, as did Brazil, which is to say that such a vote is not at all indicative of a pro-Ukraine foreign policy.

Last week, Brazilian diplomats told a press briefing that the Johannesburg summit would discuss “criteria” for the group’s expansion, and that Brazil’s position on adding new members to the BRICS would take into account several elements, including how it would help the country’s reformist ambitions, such as for the UN Security Council. But all that seems to have gone out the window.

The Brazilian president’s chief foreign policy advisor, Celso Amorim, told reporters in South Africa: “[First] you choose...