Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria on August 22. (Source: Bloomberg)

Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed this during a meeting with host President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria as part of his state visit to South Africa from August 21. This is Xi's second international trip in 2023, following his visit to Russia in March.

According to President Xi Jinping, the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership has achieved leapfrog development over the past 25 years with strategic mutual trust reaching a new height. The two countries should become development partners and make progress together.

“We should strengthen strategic cooperation... and promote the representation of countries in the Southern Hemisphere,” the Chinese leader stressed.

The meeting between the two leaders took place ahead of the 15th BRICS Summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue.

BRICS expansion is at the top of the agenda at this year's summit. The list of countries expressing interest in joining the bloc includes Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, Kazakhstan...

According to host country President Cyril Ramaphosa, the two sides found common ground in admitting more BRICS members.

"South Africa and China have similar views on expanding BRICS membership," Cyril Ramaphosa affirmed.

Meanwhile, two other leaders, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are relatively skeptical about expanding the bloc with terms that could weaken their influence in the bloc, according to the Financial Times.