China welcomes Venezuela’s desire to join BRICS

Brazil also expressed support for President Nicolas Maduro’s idea, while Moscow said the alliance was discussing expanding it.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry

BEIJING, May 31 (Sputnik) – Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday that China supports the expansion of the BRICS group of major emerging countries.

On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Caracas would like to become a BRICS member country “to take part in the construction of this new architecture and world politics.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva responded by saying he supported Venezuela joining the group. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the desire of new countries to join BRICS was a topic of discussion within the alliance.

“China has always viewed BRICS as an open and inclusive mechanism and encouraged its expansion process. We welcome as many like-minded partners as possible to quickly join the big BRICS family,” Mao said in response to Sputnik’s request for comment. On China’s position on the possibility of Venezuela joining the bloc.

BRICS is an association that unites the world’s largest developing economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In early 2023, South Africa takes over the BRICS presidency, which will last until the end of the year and then pass to another country.