World without rules is like crossroads without traffic lights: Chinese President Xi

He underlined the need to shun “double standards”, remarks seen as directed at the Western powers. File | Photo Credit: PTI The BRICS should leverage its close ties with emerging markets and Global South to safeguard supply chains, and foster a large integrated market, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday (September 13, 2026) as he proposed a five-point initiative to boost trade, manufacturing, investment, and technology cooperation.In an address at the concluding session of the BRICS Summit, he called upon the leaders of the grouping to work towards writing a "new chapter of strength through unity for the Global South”, asserting that the logic that "might makes right" should have been discarded long ago."A world without rules is like a crossroads without traffic lights, where chaos and disorder are all but guaranteed. Fairness and justice is a universal aspiration, and international rules must be written by all countries," he said.Mr. Xi said the Global South countries should jointly "defend the rule of law in international affairs, safeguard the basic norms of international relations including sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and ensure that international law and international rules are applied to all." In this context, he underlined the need to shun "double standards", remarks seen as directed at the Western powers. "All countries, regardless of their size, strength or wealth, are equal members of the international community," Mr. Xi said."Global South countries should hold high the banner of multilateralism, uphold the authority and role of the United Nations, support multilateral institutions in advancing reform and increasing efficiency, and ensure the equal participation of all countries in international affairs," he said.The Chinese President also called for reform of the international financial architecture to increase the representation of developing countries.Mr. Xi's five-point initiative to enhance BRICS cooperation focuses on establishing an inclusive artificial intelligence framework, facilitating trade and investment, deepening digital industry ties, advancing "intelligent manufacturing," and launching a joint science and technology development initiative.China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS-AI open source community to support the cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialised AI seminars and training courses, and build an open AI ecosystem, he said, about the first initiative.On the trade and investment facilitation initiative, Mr. Xi said China proposes to establish a BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development.The third initiative, he said, will be in the domain of the digital industry."China will push for establishing a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, and conduct digital skills training, technological exchange and industrial alignment, so as to jointly enable the development of the digital economy," he said.The fourth one, Mr. Xi said, will be to have expanded cooperation in "intelligent manufacturing"."China stands ready to assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms, and jointly promote manufacturing transformation and upgrading," he said.The fifth initiative will be in the science and technology domain."China proposes to set up a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards. China will launch a BRICS youth exchange programme for scientific and technological innovation, so as to cultivate more high-calibre talent," he said. Published - September 13, 2026 04:47 pm IST