BRICS and its economy has grown tremendously in the last two decades.
BRICS obviously is the collection of countries,
Brazil, Russia, India, China and later on added South Africa.
Combined, their GDP was only 8% of global economy in 2000, but in 2017 it captures 23%.
And if you look at a PPP level which is the purchasing power parity measurement,
the GDP of the BRICS combined is now equal to the GDP, combined, of the G7 countries.
Beyond that, BRICS has also acquired a lot of financial and monetary capabilities
through its interaction with the global economy, global finance and global currency issues,
that their capacity, not only in terms of size,
but also in terms of ability is going up.
So, given that, BRICS presence has been felt
in the global economy and it has an impact on the global governance.
For example, BRICS was able to collaborate together, in among the five countries,
to address some of the inequalities that are prevalent
in international financial institutions,
such as the International Monetary Fund IMF or the World Bank.
By addressing the disproportionate quota
allowed to be possessed by the European countries in the United States,
the BRICS has expanded its capacity, it's presence in these institutions.
And also, there are issues such as the currency,
where Renminbi, the Chinese currency,
has been supported by the BRICS to expand in a global economy.
So, altogether,
the presence of BRICS tells us about the global governance in the sense that
the more of that equitable  distribution of voice and power
has to be put in place,
so that the developing countries would have more say and more influence
in this age,  in the 21st century.
China's role is very important in the BRICS project,
obviously China is a disproportionately large economy within the BRICS.
If you look at the GDP terms,
China's economic size is twice as large as four other BRICS countries combined.
So, in some ways China can go alone if it really wants to,
to address some of the inequalities in the global economy or the voice in the global governance.
But China sees BRICS to be a very convenient and effective tool, foreign policy tool, to use.
For China, BRICS is a way to
soften it's kind of a threatening image.
If it is to go alone by itself to address some of these
frustrations that China feels about the global governance,
China will be seen as a revisionist power.
But if China collectively moves with the BRICS,
it makes sense for them to see China
as a leader of the third world countries or developing
countries,
as well as it to be a legitimate power within the global
system.
So, and from the BRICS, from the four BRICS countries, non-China BRICS,
it makes sense for them because China is where the funding is.
So, most of the financial resources for new institutions that BRICS has started,
like the New Development Bank,
China has been a major kind of contributor.
So, altogether it's the kind of win-win situation which is what China wants to, you know, usually likes to talk about.
For BRICS Four it is great to have China on board with the financial capabilities and financial resources.
For China it is nice to be in a group
with other countries that represent different regions
and represent the developing economies all together.
East Asian regionalism that has started to energize since the Asian
financial crisis of 1997
has seen the 20th, kind of, year anniversary last year
And there are some maturities in this regional cooperation
and also some challenges
The maturity being some of the institutions that started almost 20 years ago, while some of them 15,
are now maturing to be something that's permanent and has a lot of legitimacy.
For example, Qiangmai Initiative, which started in 2000,
has evolved into a very solid institution,
the institution for the emerging funding mechanism.
And along with it, the AMRO, which is the surveillance Organization,
has just become an international organization.
So, this is one example of how some of the maturity is seen among the East Asian regionalism.
On the other hand, there are challenges.
One side, the major challenge obviously is the humongous and very visible rise of China.
Which now wants to have its own very strong initiative,
like the Belt and Road Initiative
which somewhat overshadows some of the regional cooperation efforts.
Also, China wants to do several things bilaterally,
like talking about this Qiangmai Initiative.
China also has a bilateral swap arrangements,
which can be used to address financial crisis of other developing countries,
that are partnering with China.
So, in some ways many wonder,
if that type of bilateral and China's own initiative
might undermine regional cooperation.
But so far China has shown significant commitment to this regional effort
and Japan is also on board
and now, with Trump coming into place as the American leader,
East Asia really needs some hedging mechanism in order to make sure
that the economic order, the regional economic order,
will be guarded by this institution that has emerged for the last 20 years.
