CGTN Poll | BRICS Countries Urge Reform in Global Governance and China's Insights Enhance Cooperation

"The collective rise of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries represented by BRICS is fundamentally changing the global landscape." As Chinese President Xi Jinping put it, "Whatever resistance there may be, BRICS, a positive and stable force for good, will continue to grow."

According to a survey conducted by CGTN in cooperation with Renmin University of China and through the New Era Institute of International Communication, for 1,634 respondents from the BRICS countries, most respondents believe that the BRICS Power has injected impetus into global governance. It is imperative to promote the construction of a fairer and more reasonable international order.

Development demands refuse to be ignored, as there are expectations for accelerated reform in global governance.

In today's world, economic globalization is facing challenges, with the conflicts between multilateralism and unilateralism, as well as between fairness and hegemony, becoming increasingly prominent. The development gap between the Global North and South continues to widen. The institutional nature and deep-rooted contradictions of international order dominated by a handful of developed countries are becoming increasingly evident. It has become the strong aspiration of the BRICS countries to promote the construction of a new international order that is fairer and more reasonable.

In the survey, 96.2 percent of respondents believed that countries should participate equally in international affairs and work together to establish an international system and order. 72.6 percent of respondents supported necessary reforms to the current international rules, which are primarily dominated by developed countries. Additionally, BRICS respondents have high expectations for the United Nations (UN) as the core of the international system. 83.9 percent of respondents called for the UN to pay more attention to the interests and demands of "Global South" countries.

In response to the question "Main aspects of the international order in need of urgent reform", respondents from the BRICS countries showed more diversified and urgent expectations. 63.6 percent called for more transparency in the decision-making of international organizations. 60.2 percent demanded greater representation and voice for developing countries in international affairs. 56.8 percent believed countries should respect the authority of international law. 55.9 percent called for institutions like the UN Security Council to strengthen international cooperation and coordination.

Additionally, 49.6 percent of respondents opposed the behavior of using military sanctions against other countries. 48.7 percent hoped to narrow the North-South gap through international aid, knowledge sharing, and technology transfer. 45.8 percent urged a reduction in trade barriers and protectionist measures.

Three Global Initiatives Achieve Broad Consensus: BRICS Anticipates More Chinese Solutions.

For a long time, the pursuit of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win outcomes has been the common aspiration and responsibility of BRICS countries. As one of the founding members of BRICS, China's development philosophy and achievements in modernization are injecting strong momentum into the BRICS cooperation mechanism.

Data shows that the import and export value between China and Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa has grown from 960.21 billion yuan in 2009 to 4.32 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth of 11.3 percent. After the expansion of the BRICS cooperation mechanism this year, China's imports and exports with other BRICS countries in the first three quarters reached 4.62 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 percent.

The survey found that respondents from BRICS countries positively evaluated China's important contribution to deepening the BRICS cooperation in various fields, including fostering peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world and jointly addressing global challenges. In the ranking of China's contribution to the Global South, the top five were strengthening infrastructure construction (79.7 percent), providing financial and technical support (77.1 percent), sharing development experience (77.5 percent), strengthening talent cultivation (75.4 percent) and sharing experience in poverty alleviation (72.9 percent).

Furthermore, BRICS respondents highly recognized China's development philosophy in modernization: 89.4 percent agreed that development is the primary task for developing countries; 88.6 percent praised the "people-centered" development approach, asserting that countries should ensure and improve people's livelihoods; and 93.6 percent supported action-oriented practices, calling for countries to deepen practical cooperation and jointly promote global development. 89.8 percent endorsed China's proposed innovation-driven strategy, looking forward to seizing new opportunities from the latest technological revolution to explore new drivers of economic growth.

(Cover via CFP.)