Can ‘reliable friend’ China fill the gap as US pressures allies to snub South Africa?

China pledged to continue its support for South Africa on the same day that it emerged that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had been disinvited from this year’s Group of Seven (G7) summit in France following US threats to boycott the event. On Thursday, Pretoria said that Ramaphosa’s invitation – issued personally by French President Emmanuel Macron at last year’s Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg – had been withdrawn because the organisers did not want a no-show from the United...