The chief of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is in China this week as part of ongoing military bilateral talks.
This comes ahead of the Brics Summit, scheduled for August, but it is unclear if the visit by Gen Rudzani Maphwanya to Beijing is linked to the event.
Spokesperson for the department of defence Siphiwe Dlamini said on Thursday the visit is a follow-up to a meeting with the Chinese military delegation to SA in August 2022.
“Such bi-laterals take place regularly and between all the countries with whom the SANDF maintains military co-operation. A similar meeting was recently held and concluded between SA and the US,” Dlamini told Business Day.
Chinese media reported that Maphwanya met with Li Shangfu, the Chinese defence minister. Li was quoted as saying the aim of the meeting was to join hands with the SANDF in deepening strategic communication.
Discussions were also centred on addressing mutual security challenges to advance co-operation between the two militaries.
It is not known whether any challenges in the run-up to the Brics meeting in August were discussed.
But according to military sources security arrangements at the planned Brics meeting do not strictly fall within the defence force’s mandate.
SA was handed a political, economic and diplomatic conundrum after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin, casting doubt about how Pretoria would react if and when the Russian leader shows up for the bloc’s annual summit.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has had a series of phone calls with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss whether the Brics summit should be held here or in China should Putin physically attend.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said on Thursday the party had not yet been briefed on Ramaphosa’s meeting with Putin after the Africa Peace Mission to Russia and Ukraine last week.
“It is better that we allow government to lead and it is government that must decide whether Putin will come. We are full of confidence that at some point the president will take the nation into his confidence,” Mbalula said.
He added that it is “unlikely” that SA would be able to amend the Rome Statute, which would suspend the need for SA to arrest Putin, by the time the Brics summit is held.
“The question is how do we deal with the conundrum of heads of state having to come to our country for one reason or another if they have a [ICC] warrant of arrest out for them? We have decided to follow the UK example of amending the Rome Statute. We are doing the same, that is all. The reality is Putin cannot come to SA, we must go to him. We have given this mandate to our law makers,” Mbalula said.
Meanwhile on his trip to China, Maphwanya is reported as saying the SANDF is willing to expand its military co-operation with the Chinese.
As is, the Chinese naval patrol vessels on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden along Africa’s east coast regularly call in at Durban for supplies. The Chinese navy has also participated in joint Brics military exercises dubbed Mosi I and Mosi II.
Mosi II was held in February off the Durban coast with Russia as the lead nation.
The SANDF has regular defence commission meetings with its military partner countries. According to military sources those are mostly attended by senior operational officers and constitute the military version of diplomatic relations.
The military chiefs would also visit other countries on specific invitation by such countries and on an ad hoc basis. One former SA military chief told Business Day the meeting in China this week might be part of improving relations with its main Brics partners in light of last week’s controversial peace mission by Ramaphosa and other African heads of state to Ukraine and Russia.
According to Helmoed-Römer Heitman, a defence analyst, the SANDF and China’s armed forces have been co-operating for many years. Military students are attending courses in China, while the Chinese have competed in military events in SA too. Senior officers also attend the senior staff courses in China.
omarjeeh@businesslive.co.za
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