On June 6, 2023, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a phone call with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor.

Qin Gang said that in recent years, bilateral practical cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results. In November last year, President Xi Jinping met with President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the G20 Bali Summit, and the two presidents reached important common understandings on further advancing the development of bilateral relations. China has always viewed and developed its relations with South Africa from a strategic perspective, and will, as always, firmly support South Africa in exploring a path of modernization suited to its national conditions and in developing its economy and improving people's livelihood. China is ready to work with South Africa to turn the high-level political mutual trust between the two countries into concrete actions and promote continued development of the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.

Qin Gang said that as BRICS chair this year, South Africa has invested a lot of effort and done a lot of fruitful work in promoting BRICS cooperation, which China highly appreciates. China will continue to fully support South Africa’s chairmanship and its effort to host a successful BRICS Summit, strengthen solidarity and cooperation among BRICS countries, and jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries.

Pandor said South Africa attaches great importance to developing relations with China, firmly pursues the one-China policy, and stands ready to work with China to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, and bring the South Africa-China comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level. South Africa is ready to further strengthen coordination and cooperation with China within the BRICS and other multilateral frameworks.