In what is surely SA’s most important diplomatic engagement of recent times, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country at a ceremony at the Union Buildings. Xi was accorded a 21-gun salute and the full Cabinet was lined up to shake his hand after he inspected the presidential guard. As pomp and ceremony goes, it was about as fulsome a show as this country can fit into the sandstone amphitheatre. Ramaphosa even picked out a red tie for the occasion. The visit, ahead of the Brics summit in Johannesburg, where Xi will be joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s President Michel Temer and other national leaders, comes as the old world order is breaking apart. In Europe, Britain is headed for an economically disruptive departure from the EU. Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump has started an escalating trade war with Europe, China and several other countries.
These are, to ...
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