Can ‘reliable friend’ China fill the gap as US pressures allies to snub South Africa?

Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng pictured with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Cape Town.

Photo: Xinhua China pledged to continue its support for South Africa on the same day that it emerged that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had been disinvited from this year’s Group of Seven (G7) summit in France following US threats to boycott the event.

On Thursday, Pretoria said that Ramaphosa’s invitation – issued personally by French President Emmanuel Macron at last year’s Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg – had been withdrawn because the organisers did not want a no-show from the United States.

Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya told the SABC, the national broadcaster, that Pretoria had been informed that the “Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited”.

Despite the snub, Magwenya maintained that Pretoria’s relationship with France remained unaffected.

Ramaphosa also downplayed the reports.

When asked about the issue on Thursday, he told reporters: “The invitation to the G7 does not mean that you’re being snubbed if you’re not invited or you’re being ignored.” France denied that South Africa’s exclusion from the summit, to be held in Evian in June, was the result of pressure from Washington, adding that Kenya had been invited instead because Macron was going to visit Nairobi for this year’s Africa-France Summit.

At the same time as the news emerged, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng was in South Africa, where he said Beijing would allow thousands of products duty-free access to its markets and pledged further investment in the country’s mining and mineral processing sectors.

Han said the two nations were “true friends who have shared weal and woe” and pledged continued support on issues of mutual concern.

He added that as China further opened up its markets, it would create expanded opportunities for cooperation.

South Africa, China’s largest trading partner on the continent, will now be able to export thousands of products – including minerals, wine and fruit – to China under a zero-tariff regime.

In 2024 and 2025, South African exports to China were dominated by mineral products and precious metals – specifically gold, iron ore and platinum – and various other ores such as chromium and manganese.

Meanwhile, South African imports from China consist of finished products, mainly telephones, computers, motor vehicles and electrical machinery, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

原文链接: 南华早报