With the recent political developments in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured China’s President Xi Jinping of South Africa’s commitment to continue adhering to its policies with its Asian counterpart.

Addressing members of the media on the conclusion of his visit to China, Ramaphosa said he briefed President Xi on the setting up of the Government of National Unity (GNU) and how it is structured.

‘We heard concerns that they may have had about South Africa’s policy with China. We assured him that South Africa will continue to adhere to the policy that we have had over 30 years of recognising the one China policy.

The President said his Chinese counterpart was assured that the coming in of the other parties in the Government of National Unity would not dilute or erase the policy position of both countries.

He explained that government has taken the decision of taking South Africa into a new era, an era of cooperative governance, working together with other political parties and where all pa
rties in the GNU would jointly advance the interests of South Africa.

‘We discussed the political development in our country, and he was satisfied that we are on the right path of forging unity in South Africa, of promoting social cohesion and getting all parties to work for the development of our country.

‘Our other objective in terms of [the]outcomes was to work on our economic challenges. We briefed him on the priorities of the Government of National Unity that we want as a united government to focus on economic development, particularly to tackle the challenge of unemployment and to have an all-inclusive growth economic trajectory.

‘We briefed him on other priorities, such as building more capacity in the state and that we have local government that will be introspective and efficient to serve the interests of South Africans and to improve skills,’ the President said.

He added that the people of South Africa decided on the new political governance architecture in the country.

‘We have embraced it and
we will continue to see some benefits of it as people in the various political parties will be sharing views, experiences and aspirations. It is a change process, a transformative process that in my view is going to bode well for South Africa and the people of South Africa. We should be grateful for this new era and new process that we are all involved in. It will be at the advantage of all South Africans,’ the President said.

Source: South African Government News Agency