I think the point here is that while BR doesn't fill any of the more glaring gaps in OW coverage, it was a viable candidate for OW membership. It has partnerships with OW airlines, makes SE Asia and Mainland China a bit more accessible, and shores up Northeast Asia in the face of JL cutbacks. BR also fits (IMO) with OW's image of "quality" airlines - certainly one of the better of the unaligned carriers in Asia.

Who knows that OW will look like in 5 years, but to some extent, the airline alliance game is zero-sum. There are not a lot of remaining unaligned carriers in the world, and the number of new carriers every year that might make viable alliance partners is small. Quantity isn't everything, but if an alliance hopes to command all or most of your business, there's a critical mass that depends in part on the size of the other alliances.