For China, BRICS Is a Means to an End

Today, the BRICS group is being driven more and more by China, now the world's second largest economy. When the country's thriving east coast city of Xiamen hosts the annual BRICS summit on Sept. 3, the event will not only be of personal significance to Chinese president Xi Jinping, who was once Xiamen's mayor, but will also be an opportunity for China to maintain and grow its global influence. And while China's economic heft will give it plenty of power to direct the course this year's meeting, there is another major BRICS player who will stand in its way....