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Argentina was among six countries invited to become new members
of the BRICS at a summit held in South Africa in August, part of
the grouping's push to reshuffle a Western-dominated world order
it sees as outdated.
However, Russia's RIA news agency cited Diana Mondino, an
economist tipped to become foreign minister in the
administration of Argentina's newly-elected Javier Milei, as
saying that her country would not now join the BRICS group.
Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, told a press
briefing that she was not aware of Mondino's reported comments.
"What I want to say is that the BRICS cooperation mechanism is
an important platform for emerging markets and developing
countries to strengthen solidarity and cooperation and uphold
common interests," Mao said.
"BRICS is also an open platform and we welcome any interested
country to become a member of the BRICS family."
Milei, a right-wing libertarian who has sharply criticised China
and the China-led BRICS group, was elected Argentina's new
president on Sunday.
Milei and Mondino had both opposed Argentina joining the bloc,
which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
"We don't understand what the benefit (of joining BRICS) is for
Argentina at the moment. If it later turns out that there is a
benefit, we will analyze it," she told the RIA news agency.
China and Russia are pushing for the expansion of the BRICS
grouping as they seek to counter Western economic dominance.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates
are the other five countries invited at the August summit to
join the BRICS grouping.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Ethan Wang; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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