In Xi-Ramaphosa Call the Chinese President Gently Reminds His South African Counterpart About Taiwan and Beijing’s “Core Interests”

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone on Friday with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa. The bulk of the discussion, according to a summary published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was what one would expect:

  1. China’s support for South Africa’s battle against COVID-19 
  2. Chinese support for African debt relief 
  3. Continued cooperation between the two countries in multilateral forums

The one issue that did stand out, however, was an interesting reference to Taiwan. After the discussion, the Chinese government and its various state-run media outlets appeared to go out of their way to showcase how Cyril Ramaphosa supports “China’s stance on the Taiwan question and other issues concerning China’s core interests.”

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by Eric Olander

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