South Africa, the last country to join the BRICS bloc, in 2010 on China’s invitation, will have to walk a fine diplomatic line with its allies in the West. In the coming months, South Africa will turn its attention to its second-largest trading partner after China, the United States, hosting a meeting about a continental trade agreement. In a comment to the New York Times, SAIIA’s Senior Researcher Gustavo De Carvalho says, ‘it almost feels that in South Africa, the heart is in the east, the money is in the west’.
