South Africa criticizes "US bullying" as Washington skips the G20 summit
President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that no country should be allowed to bully another, implicitly criticizing the United States, which is boycotting this weekend’s G20 summit of leading economies in South Africa.
Washington has also demanded that South Africa not issue the traditional joint leaders' statement after the meeting, where around 40 countries will be present, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
"It cannot be that a country's geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to," Ramaphosa told delegates at a curtain-raiser event in a clear reference to Washington on Thursday.
"It basically means there should be no bullying of one nation by another," he said in an address to a gathering of civil society groups ahead of the November 22-23 summit in Johannesburg.
Relations between South Africa and the United States have plummeted this year over a number of foreign and domestic differences.
The US embassy confirmed it would not attend the summit in a note to South Africa, saying Pretoria's G20 priorities "run counter to the US policy views, and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency."
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