South Africa walks a tightrope of international alliances

Thapelo Tselapedi, a lecturer in politics at Rhodes University, writes about the Catch-22 situation that South Africa finds itself in as it juggles its allegiances to Russia, China and the West

- Thapelo Tselapedi

"Relations between the People’s Republic of China and Russia on one hand and the West, specifically the US, on the other, have become increasingly tense in recent times. For the US, China and Russia represent authoritarian regimes. For China, the US is the source of global insecurity.

With a few exceptions, such as France and the UK, the West sees the presence of Russia and China in the BRICS bloc (which also includes Brazil, India and South Africa) as contaminating the entire bloc as well as their relations with the individual BRICS member countries. This is especially so for the US.

This view reflects the weakening global power of the US, especially its inability to isolate Russia in Europe and to contain the influence of China in Asia and the developing world.

The growing tensions pose a political and economic challenge for South Africa. This is especially so for US-South Africa relations. Part of my doctoral thesis focused on BRICS and its efforts to democratise the post-Cold War international order, which, by US admission, has come to an end. This is an important admission because the US is aware that the unilateral power it used to interact with the rest of the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 is now subject to competition by many forces, both economic and political.

I argue that South Africa should not choose between its BRICS or EU and US partnerships. It should keep its relations with the West while remaining within BRICS because of its economic prospects. The West remains economically significant for South Africa, but the BRICS bloc is important for South Africa’s economic adaptability.

THE BRICS BLOC