In Sandton, the financial district of Johannesberg, the leaders of the so-called Brics nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, gathered for their annual conference this week. China’s president, Xi Jinping, perhaps relieved to take a break from fire-fighting a wobbly domestic economy, used the summit for a fresh drive to turn the grouping into an alternative to Western-dominated bodies such as the UN or World
