After a wave of “recognition tide” in Palestine, confidence has risen, with 157 of the 193 member states of the United Nations already recognizing the status of Palestine as a state.
In July 2024, Palestinian factions shrugged their hands for peace in Beijing and signed the Beijing Declaration on Ending Separation and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity.
According to news from the Russian Satellite News Agency on September 25, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Nofal told the agency that Palestine has formally submitted an application to join the BRICS to the BRICS organization, but has not received a reply yet.
Nofal said that we submitted an application, but as you know, Palestine has certain conditions. I think Palestine will continue to participate in the activities of this cooperation mechanism as a guest country until it is approved as a full member.
It is really a difficult problem for the BRICS that Palestine submits its application to join the BRICS. BRICS was founded in 2006 by China, Russia, India and Brazil. Today, BRICS has 10 full member countries, 9 partner countries and other cooperative organizations and countries.
In recent years, BRICS has also become a "thorn in the side" of the US government. At the BRICS summit in July, Trump threatened to increase taxes on BRICS countries.
[Screenshot of relevant reports from Sputnik news agency & radio]
Therefore, countries that are able to join the BRICS must have certain strengths, such as China's invitation to join six countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina in 2023.
As a result, Argentine President Milei called the leaders of BRICS countries and said that he would not join the BRICS for the time being. But this has not stopped the enthusiasm of countries to join the BRICS. For example, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries are waiting in line to join the BRICS.
However, joining the BRICS is conditional. According to the strategic consensus among BRICS member countries, there are currently the following requirements for newly joined countries:
First, do not participate in illegal unilateral sanctions. Russia clearly stated that applicant countries should not impose any form of illegal sanctions or restrictive measures on existing member countries.
The reason is simple, because a large number of Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, so we see almost no European countries in the newly joined BRICS member states.
China emphasizes that "equal intent" is the primary prerequisite for BRICS membership expansion, requiring the applicant country to agree with the BRICS countries on global governance concepts, support multilateralism and oppose confrontation.
The reason for this is also simple, now the United States pulls a large group of allies into the confrontation camp, and also imposes tariffs on unilateralism, having such a behavior can naturally not be a member of the BRICS countries.
Third, political stability.The applicant country must have a stable political environment and avoid interfering with BRICS member states due to internal unrest.
For example, the Philippines was considered unqualified due to the political split between the president and the vice president, and Indonesia was not officially accepted until after the presidential election in 2024.
Fourth, the size of the economy and the potential for economic growth. India proposes that the GDP level of new members should not be less than $400 billion. The BRICS itself is a representative organization of developing countries around the world, as well as Southern countries and emerging economies.
The above four requirements are only a few of the main factors for the BRICS to visit the applicant country, while Palestine wants to join the BRICS, and from the above requirements, the Palestinian conditions are indeed not mature.
On September 26, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jianquan said that the BRICS countries are an important platform for developing countries and emerging market countries to carry out cooperation, which has injected a strong impetus for the development of multipolarization and democratization of international relations in the world, and has been widely recognized by Southern countries.
We welcome the participation of like-minded partners in BRICS cooperation to jointly promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.
China's answer neither disgraced Palestine's face nor clarified China's views on this matter. At the same time, it also issued invitations to more countries to participate.
In fact, Palestine is also aware of its own conditions, and according to the BRICS request for a visit to the applicant country, Palestine currently does not have the elements of political stability.
At present, the most important task of Palestine should be to handle the conflict with Israel and strive to become a full member of the United Nations at an early date. Countries such as China and Russia in Palestine and even most countries in the world have expressed sympathy for the current suffering of Palestine.
China has also been working hard to help Palestine become a full member of the United Nations and to work for Palestine in the Israeli conflict.
After the Palestinian state stabilizes and the political situation stabilizes, we believe that the BRICS will consider Palestine's application for accession.