A joint maritime military exercise is underway in South Africa involving China and Russia along with the South African navy. The multilateral naval drills, named as Exercise Mosi II, are scheduled to last until the 27th of February.
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According to a statement published on Sunday by the ministry of defence;
“The joint naval drill of China, Russia and South Africa is rich in content, including a dozen drill subjects such as anti-piracy, air defence, and helicopters landing on each other’s ships. The joint exercise will surely help the three parties deepen mutual trust, further promote their cooperation in security, improve their capacity to jointly maintain maritime security, and make still greater contributions to world peace”, said Huang Zhongxin, commander of the 42nd Escort Formation of Chinese Navy, during a speech after arriving in Richards Bay on Sunday.
The first joint maritime exercise involving naval forces from China, Russia and South Africa took place in Cape Town in November 2019. World powers are vying for influence in Africa amid deepening global tensions resulting from the war in Ukraine and an increasingly aggressive Chinese posture towards self-ruled Taiwan.
South Africa’s governing African National Congress has long-standing ties to Moscow, which supported its struggle against a racist apartheid regime that many Western states considered a Cold War ally.
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As Russia and China now seek to build new international coalitions, he said that history is coming to the fore in Africa where some nations are keen for alternatives to Western hegemony. South Africa, for example, greatly values its place within the BRICS bloc alongside Russia, China, India and Brazil, and supports Beijing’s plans to expand membership and increase its clout.