China has proposed a free-trade bloc among the five BRICS countries in a bid to enhance economic ties within the decade-old grouping, as its geopolitical rivalry heats up with the United States. Trade between Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa has huge potential to expand, as it accounts for only 6 per cent of the countries' combined trade today, despite major emerging economies contributing to about one-fifth of global trade, said vice-commerce minister Wang Shouwen. "To build a free