Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday spoke over phone with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, during which the two sides vowed to further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Noting that China always sees and develops its relationship with South Africa from a strategic perspective, Qin said the Chinese side will, as ever, firmly support South Africa in exploring a modernization path suited to its national conditions, developing its economy, and improving people's livelihood.

Qin said China stands ready to work with South Africa to turn high-level political mutual trust into concrete actions, so as to push for continuous development of China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.

As the chair of BRICS for 2023, South Africa has made great effort and done much productive work for BRICS cooperation, which is much appreciated by China, Qin added.

The Chinese side is willing to continue to fully cooperate with the current BRICS chair, support South Africa in successfully hosting the 15th BRICS Summit, and work with South Africa to strengthen solidarity and cooperation among BRICS countries as well as to jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries, Qin said.

Pandor said that South Africa attaches great importance to the development of relations with China and firmly adheres to the one-China policy.

The South African side is ready to join hands with China to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, so as to take South Africa-China comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level, she said.

Pandor added that her country is willing to strengthen coordination with China within BRICS and other multilateral frameworks.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South Africa assumed the BRICS presidency on January 1, 2023, taking over from China.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: A worker operates on the refrigerator production line at an industrial park of Chinese consumer electronics company Hisense in Cape Town, South Africa, June 1, 2022. /Xinhua)