Brics summit: Can China save SA on Putin?

Is South Africa mulling moving the all-important Brics summit to China? Brics, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging market economies.

The official position is that, despite mounting pressure from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, should he set foot in the country to attend the August Brics heads-of-state summit, nothing has changed in the government’s planning.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said at the Brics foreign ministers’ meeting in Cape Town yesterday the government was considering a number of “legal options”, but would not elaborate.

Discussions

However, Reuters news agency quotes an anonymous source in the SA government as confirming that moving the summit to China was being discussed.

There have been fears of a possible backlash of economic sanctions, which could be imposed by western governments should South Africa allow Putin to enter the country in contravention of the ICC convention, of which SA is a signatory.

Those sanctions could see the country excluded from the main global payments systems, which deal mainly in dollars and euros, or it could face restrictions on investment by countries in the West.

China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which codifies the ICC. But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said reports that the Brics summit could be relocated to China were fake, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

And Pandor, speaking at the start of a two-day foreign ministers’ meeting in Cape Town – also attended by Mauro Vieira (Brazil), Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russia), Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India) and Ma Zhaoxu (vice-foreign minister of China, standing in for minister Qin Gang) – was emphatic “the summit will be held in Johannesburg”.

Reuters also reported Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Obed Bapela told the BBC the government was planning to pass legislation which would give it the option about whether or not to honour ICC warrants.

After the country became a signatory to the Rome Statute in 2002, it passed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal. Court Act, which came into effect in August that year.

The Act incorporates the Rome Statute definitions of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, and excludes any type of immunity.

‘Unlikely’

Former president Thabo Mbeki, still an influential figure within the ANC, said in an interview on Radio 702 last month that the summit was unlikely to take place in South Africa.

“Because of our legal obligations, we have to arrest President Putin, but we can’t do that,” Mbeki said. Addressing journalists at the Brics meeting yesterday, Professor Anil Sooklal, SA’s ambassador-at-large for Asia and Brics, said nothing had changed, with South Africa hosting the summit and Russia fully represented. “Like all Brics countries, Russia is an integral member of the Brics family.

All Brics members are treated equally and all have equal role and say in the affairs of Brics,” said Sooklal.

READ MORE: ANC renewal: Mbeki’s call – a sense of ‘urgency’

Pressure

Independent political analyst Sandile Swana said, due to the country’s stance towards Russia, South Africa had been “under pressure for some time”.

“There is a letter that was issued by the United States Treasury calling on South Africa to enforce sanctions against Russian individuals and companies.

“[Russian ship] Lady R was among those sanctioned by the US, with SA warned it would be liable to sanctions if it did not change policy towards Russia,” said Swana.

Pandor said South Africa took its role as Brics chair and summit host “very seriously”. “Our vision of Brics is for our partnership to provide global leadership in a world fractured by geopolitical tension, inequality and deteriorating global security,” she said.

South Africa, said Pandor, subscribed to Ubuntu – “a humanist African philosophy – and Brics principles of a mutually beneficial South-South cooperation”.

She added: “Our vision of Brics is for our partnership to drive the inclusion of Africa in a more fair, just and equitable world, based on mutual respect and the equal sovereignty of nations.

“We see our partnership as a catalyst for sustained and mutually beneficial global growth and sustainable development – one that responds to the needs and demands of the whole world, not just the privileged few.

“We will also be exploring opportunities of derisking our financial institutions in the current financial landscape and looking to bringing fairness to global financial systems towards a world with less poverty and less inequality.”

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– brians@citizen.co.za