On February 29 and March 1, 2024, Georgian and Russian-language Facebook users (1, 2) reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and Russia are partners and friends, and in the event that, under the influence of the United States, NATO starts a conflict with Russia, China will use military resources at his disposal to protect Russia. According to Jinping, this right is guaranteed by Article 50 of BRICS, which implies the protection of member countries of the organization.
The statement on behalf of the President of China is fabricated and cannot be found in official sources. In addition, BRICS is not an organization similar to NATO and does not have a clause requiring military support from member states in times of conflict.
A similar statement made by Xi Jinping cannot be found in open sources, including English, Russian, and Chinese. In addition, BRICS does not have a clause on collective defense.
BRICS is an informal group, it does not have a specific statute/charter and predetermined finances to cover the costs of its activities. The organization also has no permanent secretariat or office and meetings are held in member countries on a rotating basis. Considering all this, it is easy to determine that BRICS does not have Article 50, which allows countries to protect other member countries from military aggression. Several summits of the organization were devoted to the topic of security, where attention was focused on the fight against terrorism, cyber security, conflicts in the world and the need to stop them, and to strengthen the cooperation of the member states of the United Nations to solve these problems, but none of them included a clause that, similar to Article IV of the NATO, would ensure that BRICS members provide military assistance to each other during conflict.
- What is BRICS?
BRICS is an organization whose members currently include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Its name was created from the acronym of the names of the member countries, and it was originally used in a scientific study in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill, who believed that these countries would become the main drivers of the world economy by 2050. It should be noted that BRICS is not a formal organization like the United Nations, World Bank, or others. Its building process started in 2006, with informal meetings, and since 2009, an annual summit has been held formally, where the country’s leaders discuss various issues.
The organization’s cooperation includes three main pillars: 1. Political and security cooperation; 2. Financial and economic cooperation; 3. Cultural cooperation. As a result of the agreements reached at the summits, the “New Development Bank” was established in 2014, the main goal of which is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects of BRICS members and other developing countries.
In August 2023, BRICS officially invited Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Ethiopia to join the organization. According to reports, they will become full-fledged members in 2024, however, after this event, the government in Argentina changed and refused to join BRICS.
About the Sources
Facebook user Nona Sharabidze, she regularly spreads false information and Kremlin narratives of anti-Western content. “Myth Detector” has repeatedly debunked the disinformation amplified by Sharabidze in the past.
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