MFA REVIEWS SEPTEMBER 25 BRIC FOREIGN MINISTERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 004023 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2033 TAGS: BR CH ECON EG ENRG GG IN MX PREL RS SENV SF SUBJECT: MFA REVIEWS SEPTEMBER 25 BRIC FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING AND CHINESE VIEWS ON BRIC REF: A. BEIJING 1315 ¶B. BEIJING 3703 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Responding to ongoing global financial turbulence, climate change and issues related to the G8-plus-5 grouping were the topics at the September 25 meeting of foreign ministers from Brazil, Russia, India and China (the "BRIC forum"),according to an MFA contact. Despite the regional and cultural differences among the four countries, the MFA official said, recent meetings of the two-year-old forum have shown the relative ease with which the four sides can "express similar views" and "reach consensus." Pointing to the rise in the number of BRIC meetings in 2008, he said that the forum, in the eyes of Chinese officials, is "developing very well and very fast." China believes the BRIC forum "should be based on economic issues" and avoid political content. Thus, China has not supported efforts by other members to reach common views on political issues such as UN Security Council reform, the Russia-Georgia conflict and the peaceful development of nuclear power. Rather, China seeks consensus within the BRIC on economic issues of common concern, thereby strengthening the voice of developing countries and creating a "more just and democratic international system." China favors a gradual, focused development of the forum, does not support expansion of the group's membership, and has not decided on a proposal to include heads of state in a 2009 BRIC Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi. End summary. September 25 BRIC FM meeting -------------- ¶2. (C) The two-year-old Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) forum is an increasingly effective platform for major emerging economies to discuss issues of common concern, Liu Zhiyong of the MFA International Organizations and Conferences Department Economic Affairs Division told POLOFF October 8. Noting that the four BRIC countries collectively comprise 42 percent of the world's population and accounted for half of global economic growth in 2007 (as measured in purchasing power parity),he said that as the world's chief emerging economies, the four sides have "expressed similar views" and "easily reached consensus on the issues" at the forum's meetings. ¶3. (C) Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the September 25 third annual meeting of BRIC foreign ministers in New York paid special attention to development issues, global financial turbulence, climate change and coordination within the G8-plus-5 group, Liu said. FM Yang called on the BRIC nations to "push forward cooperation" and to focus on "building political trust and consolidating the basis of cooperation," including in the financial sector. Liu said that worldwide financial turbulence was "quite an issue" at the meeting and that the four sides agreed to advocate "stepped up" reform of the World Bank and IMF to strengthen these institutions' supervisory powers. BRIC meetings proliferate in 2008 -------------- ¶4. (C) Liu said the growing frequency of BRIC meetings reflects the forum's rapid development. A 2001 Goldman Sachs study on emerging economies first coined the term "BRIC," but the BRIC forum took shape institutionally in 2006 when BEIJING 00004023 002 OF 003 then-Russian President Putin proposed that BRIC foreign ministers meet on the margins of the September 2006 UN General Assembly. The BRIC foreign ministers next assembled at the UNGA in September 2007. At the 2007 meeting, the BRIC foreign ministers agreed that BRIC ambassadors to multilateral institutions would meet regularly to coordinate on issues. The BRIC foreign ministers met in their first "stand-alone" meeting in May 2008 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, met again in September, and plan to meet in 2009 in New Delhi. BRIC deputy foreign ministers met for the first time in March 2008 in Brazil. BRIC heads of state met briefly on the margins of the July 2008 G-8 meeting in Toya-ko, Japan. BRIC deputy finance ministers met in August 2008 in Brazil, and a meeting of BRIC finance ministers on the sidelines of the November 2008 G-20 Finance Ministers meeting in Sao Paulo will be the sixth meeting of senior BRIC officials in 2008. BRIC should enhance voice of developing nations -------------- -- ¶5. (C) Liu said China sees the BRIC forum as an informal grouping and a platform for exchanging ideas and expressing views on "economic issues of common concern." As major emerging economies with numerous shared interests, he said, the four nations find many areas for cooperation. He noted that the May 2008 BRIC Foreign Ministers' Joint Communique called for the establishment of a "more democratic international system founded on the rule of law," and said the four countries agree that the views and interests of developing counties should be heard and considered and that "decisions affecting the international community should be made in a more balanced way." Liu said, for example, that at the July 2008 G8-plus-5 meeting, the G-8 nations set the agenda with no input from the "Plus Five" nations of China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Organizations like the BRIC forum, he said, enhance the voice and influence of developing countries and help gain "more respect and involvement" from the G-8. ¶6. (C) Chinese scholars agree on four basic points concerning China's participation in the BRIC forum, said Gao Zugui, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR),a Ministry of State Security-affiliated think tank on September ¶24. First, the BRIC nations play a "stronger and stronger role in world affairs, especially economically." As the BRIC grouping grows economically, its political influence also rises. Second, though the influence of the BRIC Four is expanding, the four nations remain on the "second level" of world political and economic powers. The G-8 nations make up the "first level." Third, the BRIC usefully helps developing states improve needed cooperation on economic issues. Finally, the rise of the BRIC forum reflects closer bilateral ties and more frequent contacts among the four BRIC nations. Political issues divisive in BRIC forum -------------- ¶7. (C) MFA's Liu said China would like to confine discussion in the BRIC forum to economic concerns, but the other three countries "want to discuss political issues." Liu indicated that UN Security Council reform is the most divisive political issue among BRIC members. Brazil and India, seeking permanent seats on the Council, strongly support UNSC reform, while China and Russia "have different views." Liu said frankly that he does not think that the four sides can resolve differences on UNSC reform. Differences over UNSC reform scuttled the issuance of a joint communique at the 2007 foreign ministers meeting and were a divisive issue at the March 2008 deputy foreign ministers meeting (ref A). When Brazil and India raised UNSC reform a third time at the May 2008 FM meeting, China again refused to endorse any explicit statement of support for specific UNSC bids. The resulting joint communique included only a vaguely-worded BEIJING 00004023 003 OF 003 statement of support from China and Russia for "India and Brazil's aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations." China, Liu said, still believes that the BRIC forum is "not a suitable platform for discussing UNSC reform." ¶8. (C) UNSC reform is not the only political issue that makes China uncomfortable in the BRIC forum, however. When the Russian side presented a first draft agenda for the September 25 FM meeting in New York, Liu told PolOff, the agenda items "were all economic in nature." One week before the meeting, however, the Russian side presented a second draft, which to China's surprise included "political issues of common concern" (ref B),including the Russia-Georgia conflict. Liu said the BRIC Foreign Ministers discussed the issue but "made no special comments." Liu said China also opposes India's efforts to include "support for peaceful development of nuclear power" on the BRIC agenda, which, in Chinas view should focus on economics and avoid political discussions. China's conservative approach toward BRIC -------------- ¶9. (C) Liu said that of the four members, Brazil is the most "enthusiastic" about the BRIC forum. CICIR's Gao told POLOFF that Brazil and India have shown the most interest in "making (BRIC) meetings regular." Contrasting China's reserved approach with the more active views of other parties, MFA's Liu said China is already involved in "very many fora, too many fora," and therefore hopes that the BRIC's growth will be gradual and "step-by-step." Immediately after describing China's distinctively conservative view of the BRIC, however, Liu added that although "there is a bit of a different level" of enthusiasm among forum members, those differences "are not huge." Looking ahead: expansion and New Delhi 2009 -------------- ¶10. (C) Liu told POLOFF that China "does not want the BRIC to expand too fast." South Africa and Egypt have expressed interest in joining the group and attending the BRIC forum, but the other members have resisted, because South Africa and Egypt "have different ideas." Liu conceded that South Africa, Egypt and Mexico, as large emerging economies, should engage in closer cooperation with the BRIC forum members. However, China sees the BRIC as "developing very well" and thus wants to avoid altering the group's structure. ¶11. (C) Regarding the 2009 BRIC FM meeting in New Delhi, Liu revealed that "some" countries proposed widening the New Delhi meeting to include the four sides' heads of state. Such a meeting, he observed, would mark the first stand-alone gathering of BRIC heads of state. China, "unsure if it supports a stand-alone BRIC meeting of heads of state just yet," has not taken a position on the proposal. RANDT