Cape Town -South Africa’s embrace of the Russian bear and Chinese panda is set to get tighter, with the ANC viewing the role of both countries as integral to its own international and domestic agendas.
This is clear from the party’s discussion documents for its national general council (NGC), set to take place in October.
The documents raise concerns about how the two powers are being portrayed as human rights abusers to suit the agenda of the Western world.
However, the documents make it clear that the ANC sees the economies of both countries as forces to be reckoned with.
Emphasis is also placed on stepping up South Africa’s leading role on the African continent.
According to the discussion document on international affairs, the rise of China as the second biggest economy and the re-emergence of Russia’s economy are gradually re-defining the world order.
“Therefore, the growing influence of China on the global economy is an important factor in the balance of global power relations,” notes the discussion document on international relations.
South Africa sits with Russia, China, Brazil and India on the Brics bloc, and there is a strong desire to make it a more powerful platform on the international scene.
Trade between countries on the bloc continues to grow and its recently established bank is considered crucial to the development agendas of Brics members.
“The formation of Brics as a powerful political and socio-economic bloc is necessarily not just about the size of the population of the member states, but also about the abundance of the requisite markets.
“The formation of Brics Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will have a far-reaching impact on the development trajectory of world institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” notes the discussion document.
The ANC also comes out strongly against the US portrayal of both countries.
“The US does not appreciate the resurgence of China and Russia as dominant factors in the arena of international power relations. It has instead declared a cold war against these two emerging world powers. The US is bent on portraying China as the world’s worst polluter and a threat to the environment, with the intention being to suggest China is but a paper tiger whose economic rise is not sustainable,” the document notes.
The ANC claims there is a concerted effort to destabilise Russia .
“Russia has not been spared the wrath of US-led Western imperialism. As with China, the Russian leadership is constantly being portrayed in the Western media and official discourse as monsters abusing human rights.
“Whatever genuine concerns may exist within the Russian population and populations of the former Soviet Union, there is a clear plot to exploit this in order to contain the rise of Russia globally,” the document noted.
On the African continent, the party has emphasised the need to continue playing a leading role in conflict resolution, but also in infrastructure development and increasing trade with African countries.
“Our trade relations with the African continent have grown exponentially. Our trade volumes have grown larger than our combined trade with all the European countries.”Our foreign policy is at the heart of our domestic imperatives. The essence is to promote our national interest to build a humane world order,” reads the document.
Cape Argus