Given the high level status accorded to the 6th FOCAC meeting, the forum promises to further enhance relations between China and African countries through a package of political, economic, social and cultural deals and exchanges that will be implemented over the next three years. But with South Africa serving as co-chair of FOCAC until 2018, can Pretoria use the platform to advance its foreign policy vision of a global governance agenda for reform and development? This policy insights paper addresses this and other related questions around whether Pretoria can consolidate alliances outside BRICS with a view to strengthening its agenda on global political and economic governance. In particular, it will consider whether South Africa can and will use its diplomatic weight in FOCAC to change the way in which economic governance issues are debated, discussed and resolved at the global level.
Author: Sanusha Naidu
