【Text by Observer Net Columnist Bao Shaoshan, Translation by Whale Life】

On the morning of July 6th local time, the 17th BRICS Leaders' Summit officially opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This is not just a common gathering of non-Western countries, but a quiet yet clear declaration: a new global system is continuously taking shape. Despite years of skepticism, mockery, and attempts to contain it by the Western world, the BRICS mechanism has been expanding its institutional influence, global significance, and strategic cohesion.

Today, the BRICS group has ten official members, its partner circle is growing, and more than fifty countries are seeking membership. It is no longer just an diplomatic forum, but a significant force in the emerging multipolar world, and a structural response to the increasingly acute contradictions of Western-dominated globalization.

Calculated by nominal value, the entire BRICS organization accounts for over 45% of the global GDP, and over 50% when calculated by purchasing power parity. It represents more than half of the world's population, and more importantly, it controls a significant share of global energy reserves, industrial capacity, and critical mineral resources, placing it at the core of the real economy that sustains global stability.

This influence is not limited to the economic sphere, but has systemic significance. In a world where the material basis for prosperity (such as energy, infrastructure, and food systems) is under threat, BRICS offers an international cooperation model rooted in common development, strategic autonomy, and infrastructure interconnectivity - a sovereignty that is independent yet interdependent.

Real Economy and Systemic Exchange Value

Differing from financialized Western countries, BRICS economies still operate on what I call the logic of "systemic exchange value." This value refers to the ability to create and circulate the real use values necessary for social reproduction and economic sustainability. Under this framework, energy is not merely a commodity for speculation and trade, but the cornerstone of productive life - the energetic foundation upon which value is created, stored, and exchanged.

On July 2nd, Indian Prime Minister Modi, while traveling by private jet to attend the BRICS Summit, stated that the BRICS is an important platform for promoting cooperation among the "Global South," and India hopes to deepen cooperation within multilateral platforms such as the BRICS. The Mint

In this regard, the BRICS group possesses a decisive structural advantage. Russia, Iran, Brazil, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are major energy producers. China leads in renewable energy capacity, grid innovation, and energy storage. These endowments enable BRICS members to anchor value in material reproduction rather than relying on financial abstraction.

This contrasts sharply with the West, especially the United States, whose value extraction has become detached from actual production. The capital market liberalization that began in the 1970s has evolved into an over-inflated financial system. Its profit drivers are no longer technological innovation or productivity gains, but more dependent on asset inflation, debt leverage speculation, and shareholder wealth maximization.

The US Financial Model: Global Distortion and Domestic Hollowing

Over the past four decades, the transformation of the American economy has been profound and highly destructive. Monetary capital has flooded into financial assets rather than physical infrastructure. Companies increasingly prioritize stock buybacks over fixed capital investment. Banks have gradually shifted from lending to productive enterprises to becoming speculative platforms. The result is a polarized economy: top-tier financial wealth continues to accumulate, while the bottom layer faces stagnation and income instability.

Nationally, this has led to growing inequality, shrinking industrial jobs, and deteriorating infrastructure. Most Americans' real wages have remained stagnant, household debt has surged, and a generation of Americans faces declining life expectancy and unaffordable medical, housing, and education costs. Politically, this has exacerbated social divisions, public disillusionment, and fueled nostalgic sentiments and the eruption of "culture wars."

Globally, the consequences are equally corrosive. The status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency allows the US to export volatility through persistent trade deficits, thus shifting its internal imbalances. To access the global market, countries are forced to hold dollar reserves, align their monetary policies with the Federal Reserve, and expose themselves to cyclical risks such as capital flight, interest rate shocks, and liquidity shortages in the dollar.

The US has increasingly relied on capital inflows to support consumption, while the real economy shrinks. At the same time, it uses international financial infrastructure - SWIFT system, sanctions, and dollar clearing - as geopolitical weapons. The more these tools are used to coerce other countries, the more incentives there are for other countries to build alternatives. Once privileges, they now become burdens.

This logic of systemic failure is not limited to the United States.

The Economic Collapse of Europe: Energy, Competitiveness, and Strategic Disorientation

Western Europe is facing a crisis of a different nature but equally severe. Its post-war development model, based on German industrial exports, French agricultural stability, and (mainly from Russia) cheap energy imports, has been shattered by geopolitical rupture and its own policy confusion.

The decision to cut off Russian energy supplies has plunged Europe into a structural energy insecurity. Gas prices have soared, and electricity prices rank among the highest in the countries. Manufacturing industries are relocating or closing down entirely. Germany's industry, once the backbone of European manufacturing, now faces a survival crisis. Formerly global leaders in steel, chemicals, and automotive industries are struggling to survive.

At the same time, Europe's green transition has also stalled. Over-reliance on intermittent renewable energy, premature retirement of nuclear and fossil fuel facilities, and lack of investment in energy storage and grid resilience have created a "perfect storm," making its energy system exceptionally vulnerable. A movement intended for transformation has turned into an energy trap.

On February 26, 2025, in Brasília, Brazil, Lula attended the opening ceremony of the BRICS Coordinators Meeting. Visual China

Europe's response — including subsidies, tariffs, and the slogan of "strategic autonomy" — is essentially passive protectionism. Meanwhile, Europe's geopolitical stance is becoming increasingly contradictory: it advocates multilateralism while participating in trade-cutting sanctions; it speaks of rules while seizing foreign sovereign assets; it calls for peace while escalating its military deployments.

This crisis is not a cyclical problem, but a structural one. Europe no longer has a coherent industrial or energy strategy. It outsources security responsibilities to the U.S., relies on Asia for supply chains, and now finds itself in a strategic dead-end: dependent on expensive U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), forced into U.S.-led confrontation with China, and suffering from weak internal growth. Europe's planned increase in military spending may inject new liquidity into its weak economic system, but it will also channel this wealth into narrow areas with limited systemic returns. The rent-seekers of the military-industrial complex will undoubtedly be eager for this, but ordinary working-class families will find it difficult to benefit from Europe's militarization shift.

Autoimmune Geopolitics: Shifting Decline, Attacking Alternatives

Against this backdrop, attacks on BRICS members — whether economic sanctions, smear campaigns, or even military strikes — must be understood for what they are: autoimmune reactions. The Western countries are unable to solve their internal contradictions and instead shift the blame outward, targeting those who dare to explore different development paths.

Western sanctions against Russia are not only because of its military actions, but also because of Russia's assertion of resource sovereignty. Western isolation and attacks on Iran are not due to its nuclear ambitions, but because Iran refuses to submit to Western economic commands. Western containment of China is not due to an ideological threat, but because China has successfully implemented an alternative development model — one based on infrastructure construction, long-term planning, and state-led development. Even neutral countries like India, Brazil, and South Africa face suspicion and pressure.

These reactions reveal deeper insecurities. The Western order rooted in post-war liberalism and the unipolar era after the Cold War is incapable of maintaining domestic unity or global legitimacy. The crises of rising inflation, widening wealth gaps, ecological instability, and institutional failures all originate internally. However, the Western response is to externalize the crisis: punishing others, splitting the world, and escalating tensions.

Ironically, these suppressions accelerate the very changes they aim to delay. Sanctions stimulate innovation in the monetary sector, exclusion gives rise to new institutional forms, and hostility fosters solidarity. The attempt to crush the BRICS has actually given the organization a clearer purpose.

BRICS: Strategic Infrastructure for a New Developing World

Against this background, the BRICS provides two core strategies for developing countries.

First, it offers a platform for reform. Many BRICS members continue to call for reform rather than abandoning existing international multilateral institutions. This includes fighting for fairer voting rights in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, reforming the structure of the UN Security Council, and formulating global trade rules that support industrial development (rather than mere liberalization).

The degree of dependence on the US by BRICS countries and the estimated adjustment time. Author's own creation

Second, it provides a protection mechanism. If reform proves impossible, the BRICS is building systems aimed at reducing dependence: trading in local currencies, creating sovereign digital platforms, establishing development banks without conditions, and exploring cooperation paths in energy, food, and technology sectors. Its goal is not self-sufficiency, but resilience — achieving autonomy within interdependence.

This shift is clearly visible. The New Development Bank (NDB) funds projects in local currencies; Russia and China conduct energy trade outside the dollar system; Saudi Arabia and the UAE are engaging in multi-polar financial and energy diplomacy. Even African and Latin American countries are exploring "BRICS Plus" cooperation to escape debt cycles and dependency. Countries like Indonesia joining the BRICS have further diversified the economic resources of member states, helping to promote more effective and balanced trade among members.

China: The Steady Pillar of a Multipolar Order

At the heart of the BRICS organization is China — steady, disciplined, and visionary. China's rise is not just about size, but a result of strategic perseverance. Compared to the volatile politics of the West, China provides stability. It invests in long-term infrastructure, pursues ecological modernization, and promotes connectivity through logistics, finance, and data platforms.

China does not require BRICS or "Belt and Road" initiative partners to maintain ideological consistency. Instead, it strives to coordinate efforts on shared goals: development, energy security, technological upgrading, and multipolar cooperation. China represents not a hegemonic force, but a gravitational center — capable of uniting diverse partners while avoiding mutual hostility.

The Future of BRICS and Reflection on Globalization

The era of Western-dominated globalization has ended, leaving behind a period of uncertainty and change; characterized by systemic instability, geopolitical reorganization, and exploration of new institutional forms.

The BRICS organization is not a plan against the West, but a plan for a post-Western era. It represents a collective effort aimed at regaining sovereignty, building the real economy, and reshaping global governance mechanisms according to contemporary realities. It offers developing countries tools for cooperation and mutual empowerment, rather than imposing dependency and conditions.

For the West, BRICS is both a challenge and an opportunity. The West can view BRICS with hostility and arrogance (which is their current default reaction), or choose introspection and reform. But the space for choice is narrowing. The world will not wait for the West to heal itself. BRICS represents the future not because it seeks to replace the West, but because it is already advancing the endeavors that the West cannot achieve: creating viable systems for the majority of humanity in the real world of energy, infrastructure, and interdependence.

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Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7524142379071193610/

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