BRICS Expansion 2026: Is China Using BRICS To Control The Global South, And Can India Stop It?

The BRICS grouping is no longer a compact club of five emerging economies. By 2026, it has become a larger and more politically complicated platform where China, India, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and newer members are competing to shape what ‘Global South’ leadership means. The central issue behind BRICS Expansion 2026 is not whether China controls the bloc outright, but whether India and other members can keep BRICS plural, practical and development-focused.

What Does BRICS Expansion 2026 Actually Mean?

BRICS Expansion 2026 refers to the bloc’s new reality after the major membership and partner-country changes that followed the Johannesburg and Kazan summits. Indonesia was welcomed as a BRICS member in the 2025 Rio de Janeiro Declaration, while Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and Uzbekistan were welcomed as partner countries.

For readers looking for a current BRICS countries list, the key point is that BRICS now extends far beyond the original Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping. Its expanded format brings in more voices from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, giving the bloc greater demographic and diplomatic weight. It also makes consensus harder because members do not share one ideology, one security outlook or one economic model.

India’s role is especially important because it holds the BRICS chairship in 2026 and is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12–13, 2026, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. India has framed its chairship around ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’, with an emphasis on practical cooperation and a people-centric approach.

Why China Sees a Major Opportunity in a Bigger BRICS

China benefits from an expanded BRICS because it already has deep trade, finance, infrastructure and diplomatic ties across much of the Global South. Many developing countries want more options beyond Western-led institutions, and Beijing is skilled at presenting itself as a partner for infrastructure, technology transfer, industrial capacity and alternative development finance.

Chinese official messaging consistently describes BRICS as a platform for multilateralism, global governance reform and greater Global South representation. In 2025, China said BRICS should help make global governance more balanced and reflective of the common will of the Global South. That language appeals to countries frustrated by unequal influence in institutions such as the UN Security Council, IMF and World Bank.

The attraction is not only ideological. If BRICS countries coordinate on local-currency settlement, supply chains, development banks, energy security or technology standards, China can gain influence without needing formal control. A larger BRICS gives Beijing more room to enter, more working groups to shape and more diplomatic narratives to amplify.

Can China Use BRICS to Control the Global South?

China can use BRICS to expand its influence, but ‘control’ is too simple. BRICS works by consensus, includes countries with competing interests and contains several members that do not want to become junior partners in a China-led order. The bloc’s own declarations emphasise sovereign equality, mutual respect, openness and consensus, which gives members formal tools to resist domination.

Still, influence can be subtle. China does not need to command BRICS to benefit from it. It can push agenda language, promote institutions where it has scale, deepen bilateral relationships around BRICS meetings and encourage narratives that align with Chinese foreign-policy priorities.

The risks for smaller or newer participants are practical:

• Agenda Dependency: Development priorities may tilt towards what larger members are prepared to fund or champion.
• Debt and Infrastructure Leverage: Countries seeking investment may hesitate to challenge China publicly.
• Technology Alignment: Digital infrastructure, payment systems and standards can create long-term dependence.
• Diplomatic Pressure: BRICS statements may become harder to balance when major-power rivalries intensify.

But the same expansion that helps China also limits it. Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia and others have their own regional ambitions. Many partner countries want strategic flexibility, not a new hierarchy.

India’s Counterweight Is Agenda-Setting, Not Obstruction

India cannot ‘stop’ China by blocking BRICS; that would weaken India’s own Global South credentials. Its better strategy is to shape BRICS from within by making the bloc less ideological, more multipolar and more useful to developing countries.

India’s 2026 chairship gives it a platform to do exactly that. Official Indian communications describe more than 350 BRICS meetings and high-level engagements across over 25 Indian cities during the chairship, spanning political-security, economic-financial and cultural people-to-people pillars.

That broad calendar matters because influence in BRICS is not built only at leaders’ summits; it is built through Ministerial tracks, technical groups, youth forums, trade meetings and institutional habits.

India’s most effective balancing tools include:

1. Keeping Consensus Real: India can insist that BRICS statements reflect genuine agreement, not the preferences of the loudest powers.
2. Prioritising Development Over Bloc Politics: By focusing on health, digital public infrastructure, climate resilience, food security and resilient value chains, India can make BRICS useful without turning it into an anti-Western platform.
3. Building Coalitions Inside BRICS: India can work with Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, the UAE and other members that prefer strategic autonomy over alignment.
4. Strengthening People-to-People Diplomacy: India has placed youth cooperation, entrepreneurship and innovation on the 2026 agenda, including BRICS Youth meetings in Gandhinagar and Visakhapatnam.
5. Offering Credible Alternatives: India’s influence grows when it brings solutions, not just objections. Digital systems, low-cost innovation, education partnerships and South-South capacity building can give developing countries more than one model to choose from.

What to Watch at the BRICS Summit 2026

The BRICS Summit 2026 in New Delhi will be a test of whether the expanded bloc can produce substance without being swallowed by great-power competition. India will want the summit to show that BRICS can support development, reform global governance and deepen cooperation while preserving strategic autonomy.

The most important signals will include:

• Language on Global Governance Reform: Does the declaration sound inclusive, or does it lean into confrontation?
• Treatment of Partner Countries: Are partners given meaningful engagement, or are they mostly symbolic additions?
• Financial Cooperation: Does BRICS advance local-currency finance and development lending in practical terms?
• India-China Balance: Do both powers cooperate enough to keep BRICS functional despite rivalry?
• Concrete Deliverables: Are there usable outcomes for trade, youth, climate, health, technology or supply chains?

If the summit produces balanced, development-oriented outcomes, India will have shown that BRICS can expand without becoming a Chinese instrument. If the agenda becomes mainly a stage for anti-Western messaging or China-centred economic structures, concerns about domination will grow.

The Real Contest Is Over the Meaning of Multipolarity

The debate is not simply China versus India. It is about whether multipolarity means wider choice for developing countries or a shift from one hierarchy to another. BRICS can become a useful platform if it protects diversity inside the Global South and delivers practical cooperation.

China will remain the largest economic force inside BRICS, and it will continue trying to shape the bloc’s direction. India’s task is not to remove that influence, but to prevent it from becoming the only influence. The future of BRICS Expansion 2026 depends on whether India and other members can keep the group open, balanced and focused on development rather than dependency.

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