China, President Jinping in South Africa at the BRICS summit

  The 15th BRICS summit in South Africa from August 21 to 24 will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, "at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa", Xi will be at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg and will pay a state visit to South Africa. During his tenure, Xi "will also be co-chair of the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue with Ramaphosa." The mission to South Africa will be Xi's second internationally in 2023, following an official state visit to Russia in March by President Vladimir Putin. The summit will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, China, India and South Africa, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said earlier this month.

There will be no Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the war unleashed against Ukraine, with South Africa which is a signatory country of the ICC. While the Chinese leader will be engaged in his first visit to the country since 2018, when he traveled to South Africa in efforts to consolidate bilateral diplomatic and economic ties as well as those between Beijing and Africa. Xi has been absent from public events in recent weeks and has not been reported by state media in field inspections even during the recent floods and bad weather that have scourged China with dozens of deaths and serious damage to infrastructure.