China welcomes Venezuela's desire to join BRICS

China supports the expansion of the BRICS grouping of leading emerging nations, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning to reporters on Wednesday, as reported by  Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that Caracas would like to become a BRICS member state to "participate in the construction of this new global architecture and policy". Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva responded by saying he is in favour of Venezuela joining the group. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the desire for new countries to join BRICS was a topic of discussion within the alliance.

"China has always seen BRICS as an open and inclusive mechanism and encourages the process of its expansion. We welcome as many like-minded partners as possible to join the big BRICS family quickly," said Mao in response to a request for comment on China's position on Venezuela's prospects of joining the bloc.

BRICS is an association that unites the world's largest developing economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In early 2023, South Africa took over the BRICS presidency, which will last until the end of the year and then move on to another country.

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