The proposal from Beijing comes against the backdrop of China’s push to offer its AI platforms and smart manufacturing know-how to emerging countries and its trade and technology war with the U.S.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday (September 13, 2026) called on the BRICS countries to “rally the Global South” to ensure that an increasingly volatile international order was “free from double standards”, even as he offered a five-point AI and smart manufacturing initiative to take forward the digital future of the grouping.
Speaking at the second session of the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Mr. Xi, who departed for Beijing on Sunday (September 13, 2026) afternoon after a 24-hour visit to India, said the global landscape was currently “volatile and fraught with risks and challenges”.
“To bring stability to the world and make it a better place, BRICS countries must seize the historical initiative, rally the Global South, be an active, stabilising and positive force in international affairs, and advance the well-being of all humanity,” he said, according to remarks released by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. “A world without rules is like a crossroads without traffic lights, where chaos and disorder are all but guaranteed.”
Mr. Xi did not name the United States. Still, Chinese officials have increasingly aimed at Washington for how they see its exercise of power in a self-described “rules-based order, ” especially after recent actions in Venezuela and Iran.
“The logic of ‘might makes right’ does not hold, and should have been discarded long ago,” Mr. Xi said. “Global South countries should jointly defend the rule of law in international affairs, safeguard the basic norms of international relations, including sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and ensure that international law and international rules are applied to all, free from double standards.”
Calling on BRICS countries to take the lead in doing so, including by “leveraging our close ties with fellow emerging markets and Global South countries”, Mr. Xi put forward five AI- and technology-focused initiatives for the grouping. The proposal from Beijing comes against the backdrop of China’s push to offer its AI platforms and smart manufacturing know-how to emerging countries and its trade and technology war with the U.S.
The first initiative, he said, would see China become “a pioneer in establishing a BRICS AI open source community” and “build an open ecosystem for AI.”
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China, which will host next year’s BRICS summit and take over as chair from India, has also proposed establishing a “BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development”.
Beijing has suggested establishing a “BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform” and an “intelligent manufacturing cooperation initiative” that would see it “assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms, and jointly promote manufacturing transformation and upgrading.”
China has also proposed setting up a science and technology talent development initiative, including an “engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards”, Mr. Xi said.
Published – September 13, 2026 06:27 pm IST
