The China-backed Brics grouping could offer Türkiye a “good alternative” to the European Union to boost its economic prospects, according to Ankara’s top diplomat, Paralel.Az reporsts citing South China Morning Post.

At the start of a three-day trip to China on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that while Türkiye was in a customs union with Brussels, it was also exploring new opportunities for cooperation with several partners in different platforms such as Brics, an association of 10 emerging economies.

“Certainly, we would like to become a member of Brics. So we’ll see how it goes this year,” he said during an event at the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) in Beijing.

Fidan also met Chinese security chief Chen Wenqing on Monday, where both sides showed a readiness to promote bilateral security cooperation, state news agency Xinhua reported.

On Tuesday, Fidan met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Vice-President Han Zheng.

According to a Chinese statement, Fidan told Han that Türkiye adhered to the one-China principle and “will not allow activities in Türkiye that undermine China’s territorial integrity”, adding that Ankara was ready to have close high-level exchanges with Beijing.

Fidan is expected to visit the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region before wrapping up his trip on Wednesday, according to Turkish broadcaster TRT.