South Africa announced on Wednesday that over thirty countries are vying for admission to the BRICS economic bloc, which is supported by China and Russia.
The increase in membership is widely viewed as a win for China and Russia, which have sought to reshape an international system they see as unfairly dominated by the United States amid growing frictions with Washington and the West.
The membership quests have come only weeks after the group’s membership were enlarged for the first time in over ten years.
Mentioning no specific countries, South African Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, told reporters that 34 countries expressed interest in joining the group of large emerging economies, according to CNN.
Russia was taking applications after it took the group's rotating chairmanship this year. As the first member to lead the organization since Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, and Egypt formally joined at the beginning of the year, Russia will be in charge of its operations.
As the Global South's equivalent of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized economies, BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—was formed in 2011.
Since Xi Jinping is promoting a different kind of global order, China has played a major role in its own growth. It has strengthened international organizations where Beijing has influence and forged stronger ties with major countries around the globe, from the Middle East to Russia.