BRICS; Li Qiang inspects Guangdong; Anger and punishments over the Fukushima water release
Summary of today’s top items:
BRICS invites 6 more countries to join - The BRICS grouping will be adding six more nations early next year, if they accept. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE got the golden invitation. This should be seen as a win for Xi and the PRC in their quest to leverage the BRICS into one of the key bricks (sorry) of the revised global order they want to shape. Interestingly Indonesia is not on the list of new additions, and the invitation to Saudi Arabia may be a useful card for the Kingdom to squeeze the US for more concessions.
Xi’s other meetings - While Xi is only visiting South Africa this trip he held bilaterals with heads of state attending the BRICS meetings. Perhaps his most important was with Indian Prime Minister Modi. Readouts from both sides said they discussed the border issues but there were no details about substantive next steps.
Li Qiang inspects Guangdong - Premier Li made an inspection tour of Guangdong and Shenzhen, vis…