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Remember When China, Russia, and South Africa Held Their First-ever Joint Naval Exercises? Well, it Didn’t Amount to Very Much 

by Eric Olander
The guided missile frigate Weifang docked at the Port of Cape Town ahead of joint nval exercises with Russia and South Africa. Photo via Chinese Ambassador Lin Songtian.

There was a lot of hype/anticipation over the dramatic optics of the Chinese, Russian and South African navies holding their first-ever joint naval exercises off the coast of Cape Town.

Did the presence of Russian and Chinese warships in the port of Cape Town symbolize South Africa’s drift away from the United States? Was this part of some kind of new BRICS military partnership?

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