On September 26, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Nofal confirmed through official channels that Palestine had formally submitted its application to join the BRICS mechanism.
On the same day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiangkun responded at a routine press conference: “We welcome like-minded partners to participate in BRICS cooperation.。 ” The short four-word "Welcome to like-minded people" quickly rushed to the hot search on the external network and became a key signal for the global diplomatic circle to decode the trend of the Middle East.
The Oasis of Hope and the Iron Gate of Reality
For Palestine, the BRICS organization is simply an "oasis" in the desert. For a long time, they have been suppressed by the US-Israeli camp on the international stage and have little say. Remember 2011?
That application to become a full member of the United Nations, full of hope, but was vetoed by the United States, the dream instantly broken, that humiliation still remains.
The wounds of history have not yet healed and new wounds are tearing apart.The outbreak of a new round of conflict has worsened the previously difficult situation, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has touched the hearts of the whole world.
Against this background, Israel's military operations in the Middle East continue to escalate, such as air strikes against Qatar, and the support of the United States can always be seen behind it. This sense of powerlessness makes Palestine more eager than ever to find new support.
Of course, there are few voices of international sympathy and support for them.Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 157 have officially recognized Palestine as a state.
But this is more of a moral solidarity, under the high pressure of the United States, these symbolic support is difficult to translate into real progress, seen by many as "unnecessary".
Therefore, focusing on the BRICS is an inevitable strategic choice, a multilateral cooperation platform comprised of developing countries and emerging markets, with its most central characteristic being its independence from the old system dominated by the United States.
Its share is not small, the member states combined account for 36% of the global GDP, more than $20 trillion in trade, and hold 65% of the seats in the UN General Assembly.
More importantly, the BRICS countries are committed to promoting world pluralism and democratization of international relations, which is in line with Palestinian demands. Key members such as China and Russia have long explicitly supported Palestinian demands for the establishment of a state.
However, the ideals are full, but the reality is quite bony. Outside the "oasis" of hope, there is a strict "threshold". There is an unshakable core principle in the expansion of BRICS membership, which is that all existing member states must "unanimously agree". This means that any country, even if only one country, has one veto power.
Furthermore, when BRICS adopts new members, it is always necessary to consider hard indicators such as the economic size of the applicant country, political stability and the basis of trade cooperation. To be honest, Palestine has objective shortcomings in these aspects, and internal governance is also facing challenges.
The most challenging thing is that, according to the internal consensus reached at the BRICS Summit in 2024, the organization has temporarily stopped the process of directly accepting new members. Instead, a new "partner country" category has been established.
Therefore, the Palestinian application has been intertwined from the outset with a strong political symbolism and a high level of procedural barriers.The ultimate result is likely not a simple “acceptance” or “rejection”, but a downright scheme, such as becoming an observer or partner country first, to a “stage-by-stage participation.”
Diplomatic code of equality.
In this game around the application of "brick entry", the most exciting part is the language confrontation between big powers. The response from China and the United States and Israel is simply the on-the-spot teaching of two different philosophies of international relations.
First look at China. spokesman Guo Qianquan's phrase "Welcome like-minded partners to participate in BRICS cooperation" is the art of diplomatic language.The four words "like-minded" are fine, it cleverly pulls the entry threshold from concrete national strength, economic indicators, to the level of identity of values.
What is "like-minded"? That is, everyone has common ideas, such as supporting multilateralism, opposing unilateral hegemony, and hoping to promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.
This not only expresses a welcome gesture and gives Palestine enough face, but also does not make any specific commitments and retains great operational flexibility. This response perfectly continues China's consistent position since it recognized the State of Palestine in 1988 and reflects its long-term support for the legitimate rights and interests of Palestine.
At the same time, it has also implicitly criticized the U.S. West’s double standards in international affairs, especially in the case of Israel.The subtitle is clear: Why can the issue of Ukraine get such attention while the suffering of Palestine has long been ignored?
Looking at the reaction of the United States and Israel, it is simply another picture, a defensive wall of unilateralism. The U.S. State Department said painlessly that it needs to pay attention to the "potential impact" of BRICS expansion on regional stability.
This discourse, which is typical of hegemonic thinking, directly defines its unhappy multilateral behavior as the risk of potentially disrupting stability, revealed in the words, is a deep anxiety about the existing order being challenged.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more direct and explicitly opposes any multilateral action that can enhance Palestine's international status. This can't be said more clearly, that is, it is necessary to maintain its dominant position over Palestine at all costs and prevent Palestine from gaining more recognition and support internationally.
This confrontation of diplomatic language, to put it bluntly, is a head-on collision between two world views. One side advocates building a more inclusive and diverse multilateral order and giving more countries the opportunity to speak out.
The other side is determined to uphold that unilateral pattern, which is dominated by itself and is strict.The Chinese response provides a message of unity and hope for the “global southern” countries, while the U.S. response exposes their deep concerns about the loss of power.
A new player in the Middle East.
Don’t think that Palestine’s application for “bricks” is just its own thing.This move, like a brand-new chessboard on the quiet Middle East, could become a catalyst to accelerate the whole region’s “eastward-looking” trend, thus pushing the balance of power that has long been dominated by the US.
The first is the demonstration effect. You know, Palestine is not the only Middle Eastern country that wants to join the BRICS. Countries such as Egypt and Syria are also actively seeking to join. If Palestine's application can make any form of progress, even if it is just to obtain the status of a "partner country", it will have a huge demonstration and encouragement effect on these countries.
Countries in the region have long-standing grievances against the United States 'long-standing policy of favoring Israel. This dissatisfaction provides them with strong intrinsic motivation to find alternative strategic partners. Palestine's actions have undoubtedly lit a signal for them.
The second is the connectivity effect, which is also the most concerned of the U.S. West. What they fear is the emergence of a “multilateral platform connectivity support” situation.
If the BRICS side opens its arms to Palestine again, even if it only partially accepts it, these two forces will echo and form a strong synergy.
This linkage will fundamentally impact the so-called "Palestinian-Israeli peace process" framework carefully set by the United States and Israel, and bring the Palestinian issue back to the track of multilateralism.
By then, the BRICS’s presence in the Middle East affairs will grow unprecedentedly, from a platform focused primarily on economic cooperation, to an important force that can effectively influence the political direction of the region.
Therefore, the significance of Palestine's application has long exceeded the event itself, and it has become a vane for observing the geopolitical evolution of the Middle East. The vigilance and anxiety of the United States and the West just confirms the potential subversion of this move on the existing regional pattern.
conclusion
The new development is that South Africa, the rotating presidency, has stated that it will study this application according to the established process.
Regardless of the final outcome, the Palestinian application to join the BRICS has become an important window to observe the current development of multilateralism and changes in the international power pattern, and the high attention of the U.S. West demonstrates the growing influence of non-Western-dominated multilateral platforms in global governance.