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TimesLiveTimesLive17/09/2025
POSITIVE

PODCAST | G20 Summit in SA not diminished by Trump’s absence, says China’s Zhang Weiwei

PODCAST | G20 Summit in SA not diminished by Trump’s absence, says China’s Zhang Weiwei

Executive Summary

Chinese scholar Prof Zhang Weiwei argues that US President Donald Trump's decision to skip the upcoming G20 Summit in South Africa—sending Vice President JD Vance instead—does not diminish the event's importance as the first such gathering on African soil. During a recent visit for a symposium hosted by South Africa's National School of Governance, Zhang, a critic of Western democracies and advocate of China's merit-based governance model, emphasized China's $300 billion trade volume with Africa last year versus the US's $70 billion. He urges South Africa and the continent to prioritize ties with China and the Global South over a declining US empire.