Notwithstanding the India-China tension over the Doklam standoff, Beijing is upbeat about the next month’s BRICS summit (an acronym for an association of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which joined the group later on 2010) to be held in the Chinese city of Xiamen, expecting “concrete cooperation” among the five emerging economies. China is hopeful of coming out with more practical and concrete cooperation, and improve trust and confidence among BRICS members. There is no word yet whether the two leaders would be meeting on the sidelines of the summit as the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops continues at the Doklam area of the Sikkim Sector, making it the longest stalemate between the two militaries in recent years. India and China have been locked in a prolonged standoff in the area in Sikkim sector since June 16 after Chinese troops began constructing a road near the Bhutan trijunction. Bhutan has protested to China, saying the area belonged to it and accused Beijing of violating agreements that aim to maintain the status quo until the boundary dispute is resolved. India says the Chinese action to construct the road was unilateral and changes the status quo. It fears the road would allow China to cut off India’s access to its northeastern states. The summit will discuss the organisation’s role in global governance, a faltering economic recovery and setbacks in globalisation. The “gold bricks countries” — a Chinese translation of BRICS — represent emerging markets and are the voice of the world’s developing countries, it said, without referring to the current round of India-China tensions over Doklam. So it shows that Chinese are still hopeful of amicable resolution of the stand-off as it does not want to lose the largest market which India provides for its produce. Last year, India which hosted a summit in Goa invited leaders of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi- Sectoral Technical and Economic) in which Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are members. China does not want to limit future cooperation to the five nations rather to build a wider partnership through dialogue with developing countries and international organisations, under such circumstances the immediate danger of a limited war with India looks a remote possibility.
