Text/One Drop Mountain
To avoid choosing between offending the United States and Russia, the South African government is considering inviting China to host this year's BRICS summit.
According to global network reports, the above summit was originally planned to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August this year, but because Russian President Putin is so-called "wanted" by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the organizer South Africa is a member of the organization, when Putin sets foot on South African territory, the country is legally obliged to arrest him. At present, an anonymous South African government official revealed to the media that in order to avoid domestic law enforcement agencies falling into the dilemma of "breaking the law", the country is considering China taking over the hosting of the summit.
(Putin talks with South African President Ramaphosa)
The relevant background is that China is not a member of the ICC and is naturally not obliged to cooperate with its performance. Previously, South Africa had planned to let the government pass legislation to decide whether to implement the relevant orders, but many parties pointed out that the country's parliament did not have enough time to pass such a law before the BRICS summit.
In fact, not only China, but also Russia, India, and the United States, which is opposed to Moscow, are not parties to the above-mentioned ICC, and its impartiality and authority in enforcing the law are questionable. Many friends may recall that in 2020, when the ICC said it would investigate the "crimes against humanity" of the US military in Afghanistan, Washington not only replied that "you have no right to interfere", but even sanctioned several senior officials of the international court, and then the matter did not follow. Now, regarding the court's "arrest warrant" against Putin, the Biden administration jumped out to express "support", which is really very funny.
Back in late April, Putin's government confirmed that Russia would participate in the BRICS summit, but did not disclose specifics. Earlier, South Africa's president had personally said that the country had decided to withdraw from the ICC, but later in the day, his office withdrew that decision.
Similarly, the South African Government announced on 29 last month that it would grant diplomatic immunity to participants in all international conferences and summits held in the country. However, amid speculation that "this will facilitate Putin's participation," the country's Foreign Ministry added that "these privileges do not apply to specific individuals and do not go beyond the arrest warrant issued by the International Court of Justice against any participant"... These contradictory changes reflect the fact that the South African government is facing not only intense external pressure on the matter, but also a fierce game of domestic political power.
(BRICS flag)
This has to be mentioned, the large emerging economies, the BRICS group, is increasingly seen as a competitor to the Western industrialized countries G7. Based on relevant reports, it can be seen that this BRICS summit may make progress on two key issues, on the one hand, the BRICS countries will "expand the circle of friends" by accepting new members such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates; On the other hand, the BRICS group plans to adopt a resolution on the creation of a joint currency, which will inevitably prompt some countries to accelerate the pace of de-dollarization, which was once regarded by foreign media as "an economic challenge launched by China and Russia to the United States."
In addition, at a time of heightened global tensions, Africa's most developed economies have developed friendly relations with Russia and pulled other developing countries to join them, which worries the United States and the West, and the South African government is under Western pressure. On May 30, South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance even issued a direct statement saying that if the Russian president visited the country, he would take legal action to force the government to arrest him.
(There are many more challenges for Putin)
The reality is that South Africa has limited power and influence, and the country does not want to offend Russia or the United States, so it thinks of China. Of course, in addition to asking China to be responsible for the arrangement of relevant summit matters, some South African officials pointed out that Putin could consider participating in relevant leaders' meetings online.
At present, there are still three months before the final meeting of the meeting, and there must be many unknown changes. But it is foreseeable that regardless of whether or where the Russian president will eventually attend the meeting, the United States and the West will not miss the opportunity to attack Russia and develop diplomatic relations with other countries around the world, and Putin still faces many challenges in the future.