Opinion: the Global South’s technological initiatives

(Opinion) The past weeks have seen opportunities for the Global South to amass the capital and human capital needed for technological initiatives that can help address agricultural and environmental challenges facing this formerly marginalized part of the world.

At the 15th BRICS Summit held in late August, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that a China-BRICS Science and Innovation Incubation Park will be set up to support the deployment of innovation results.

He also pledged to explore establishing a “BRICS Global Remote Sensing Satellite Data and Application Cooperation Platform” in hopes of providing data support to help the Global South handle various agricultural and environmental challenges.

These commitments are commendable. But where are the capital and human capital to support their implementation?

The addition of oil powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to the BRICS group makes them obvious sources of capital needed for these technological initiatives once their memberships become effective on January 1, 2024.

In return, the BRICS group is expected to support the oil powers’ economic diversification and political influence in the world.

In fact, the United Arab Emirates just announced its achievement of having a record level of non-oil foreign trade (US$337.6 billion) in the first half of 2023.

As for the required human capital, India’s historic landing near the moon’s south pole illustrates the country’s ability to be a source of human talent.

China is another source.

According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s findings, China has established a leading position in most of the 51 “critical technologies” the institute tracks.

Among the technologies that China shows its global lead are “energy and environment” technologies such as “supercapacitors” and “biofuels”.

In addition, scientists of Chinese descent who have departed (or planned to do so) from the United States are likely to be sought after to help develop the Global South’s technological initiatives.

A recent study conducted by a Princeton-Harvard-MIT team shows that nearly 20,000 scientists of Chinese descent who began their careers in the United States have left for China or other countries between 2010 and 2021.

In 2010, only 900 scientists left the United States, but the number rose to 2,621 in 2021.

The research team primarily attributed the brain drain to “the widespread fear of conducting routine research and academic activities among scientists of Chinese descent”.

This brain drain is unlikely to stop soon.

The Biden Administration’s recent order to ban U.S. investments in certain technological sectors in China would increase the U.S. society’s doubts about Chinese scientists, regardless of their actual impartiality and integrity.

With the prospect of having an adequate supply of the required capital and human capital, the Global South appears to have the foundation to develop technological initiatives addressing agricultural and environmental challenges.

Unfortunately, before it is solidified, the foundation seems to have been shaken by India and China.

Just a few days after the BRICS Summit ended, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made comments widely interpreted as public criticism directed at China.

He warned of the rise of a “new model of colonialism” if countries with critical minerals do not regard custodianship as a “global responsibility”.

Earlier this year, China, the largest global producer of rare earth metals, imposed export restrictions on key computer chip metals.

Also, in his interview with Business Today, Prime Minister Modi, without explicit reference to China, said that “there are forces that have sought to take undue advantage by catalyzing debt crises [in some countries]”.

Without missing a beat, China published a new map of the country covering an area over which China and India have had a territorial dispute. Beijing told Delhi not to overreact or “over-interpret” the issue.

India and China demonstrated their wisdom in inviting Saudia Arabia and Iran, two countries that were not able to see eye to eye, to join the BRICS group.

Will leaders of India and China have the wisdom to put their differences behind them and leverage the fledgling solidarity emerging from the BRICS Summit to jointly achieve bigger goals?

After all, no guests want to stay at a party spoilt by the hosts.