Canada

All the deals I listed are done within the framework of BRICS. That's literally the whole point of BRICS, it brings countries together, and facilitates economic activity. You're basically making a straw man where you claim that BRICS needs to be something it's not, and then you argue that it's a failure because not this thing you declared it to be. And you refuse to engage with the reality of what it is and the actual purpose of the organization.

Meanwhile, the reality is that China is still a developing country. And it still has hundreds of millions of people who live in poverty. Their approach is to continue developing poor regions which is what's driving consumption. They don't need people to replace toasters very year, because they have plenty of legitimate development happening. And because they are working with the rest of the developing world and helping them raise their standard of living, they're literally creating future markets for their industries right now.

These are the BRI investments you're talking about, and it seems like a sound strategy. While countries benefiting from this are starting to take over lower ends, China is simply moving up the value chain here. I don't think this is some sort of an unintended or unforeseen consequence.

Finally, if automation does start replacing manual labor at scale, which is possible, I also expect shorter work week and reduction in work hours will be the outcome. This is a net positive for society. It's literally what having automation should result in, people having more free time to enjoy their lives.

The whole problem with automation only exists in a capitalist society where it's deemed that people have to work to live. China doesn't have this problem because people already own housing, food is cheap, and they have affordable healthcare and education that's not run for profit. If they end up in a situation where there's not enough work to go around, they can effectively implement universal basic services where everybody has necessities of life guaranteed as a human right. People who want to work and have skills that are useful will continue to apply themselves. This seems to be the whole goal with achieving basic socialist modernization that China set for 2035. http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2021-04/06/content_77380652_8.htm

It's important to understand that Chinese system is not just a mirror of western liberal capitalism. The decisions that would be made here in face of mass automation are not the same decisions China will make.