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South African Navy sets to conduct naval exercises with China, Russia
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/02/03 15:01:33
SOUTH Africa will go ahead with February naval exercises off its eastern coast with Russian and Chinese warships in a decision that could further strain its relationship with the West, reports Bloomberg.
Operation Mosi, which means smoke, will take place from February 17 - 26. South Africa's reluctance to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its decision to allow sanctioned Russian vessels to dock at its ports has already ramped up tensions with the US, UK and European Union.
South Africa's biggest opposition party questioned the wisdom of going ahead with the exercises.
"This gives the impression of not being neutral but being biased to one side. Clearly it can alienate us from other important trade partners, the west," said Kobus Marais, the shadow defence minister for the opposition Democratic Alliance. "This is in the best interests of Russia, another bad judgment, an embarrassment."
While the exercise follows a similar event in 2019, it comes about a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, an event that brought into the open South Africa's close ties with Russia due to historical support for the African country's liberation struggle and their joint membership of the BRICS group of nations.
The US, Germany, Japan and the UK are leading trading partners for South Africa, while Russia isn't in the top 15. South Africa's defence ministry and navy didn't answer calls made to their phones or reply to emails.
Operation Mosi, which means smoke, will take place from February 17 - 26. South Africa's reluctance to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its decision to allow sanctioned Russian vessels to dock at its ports has already ramped up tensions with the US, UK and European Union.
South Africa's biggest opposition party questioned the wisdom of going ahead with the exercises.
"This gives the impression of not being neutral but being biased to one side. Clearly it can alienate us from other important trade partners, the west," said Kobus Marais, the shadow defence minister for the opposition Democratic Alliance. "This is in the best interests of Russia, another bad judgment, an embarrassment."
While the exercise follows a similar event in 2019, it comes about a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, an event that brought into the open South Africa's close ties with Russia due to historical support for the African country's liberation struggle and their joint membership of the BRICS group of nations.
The US, Germany, Japan and the UK are leading trading partners for South Africa, while Russia isn't in the top 15. South Africa's defence ministry and navy didn't answer calls made to their phones or reply to emails.