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WASHINGTON:
The United States is not taking part in this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, the White House said Thursday, denying comments from South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa who had said Washington wanted to participate.
“The United States is not participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team,” she said.
In a note to the government on Saturday, the US embassy repeated that it would not attend the summit, saying South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency”.
Ramaphosa said earlier Thursday that South Africa would not be bullied.
“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” he told delegates at a G20 curtain-raiser event.
There “should be no bullying of one nation by another”, he said.
‘Positive sign’
Ramaphosa said the apparent change of heart was “a positive sign”.
“All countries are here, and the United States, the biggest economy in the world, needs to be here,” he said.
South Africa chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme of its presidency of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.
