South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele (in the middle) at the 12th World Peace Forum. Photo: Bai Yunyi/GT

 
The expansion of NATO is the fundamental cause of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and if we ignore this element, we are not going to succeed in our solutions, South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele told the Global Times on Sunday. He also noted that BRICS members including South Africa, China, Brazil and India are all united on the issue that there must be dialogue. 

Any peace process has to involve all the parties related, and if some parties are excluded, the process is unlikely to be successful, the South African envoy said on the sidelines of the 12th World Peace Forum in Beijing during the weekend.  

"We are being perceived as if we are biased, which is not true," Cwele said, noting that such unfair accusation was made because one of BRICS members involved in the conflict. 

"Let the parties sit down. They should respect international law. They should also respect each other's security concerns," Cwele said.  

People tend to ignore the cause of the conflict, he noted. "It's not the hatred between the two countries. It's the expansion of NATO," Cwele said. "If we ignore that element of the expansion, which is the fundamental cause of that conflict, then we're not going to succeed in our solutions."

The South African diplomat also said some countries are claiming that they are involved in the peace effort, but they are actually supplying weapons to perpetuate the war.  

"All these countries are united on the approach how to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, whether is it to Brazil, whether is South Africa, whether is China, India. We are all united that there must be dialogue," the ambassador said. 

if the peace process excludes certain parties involved, it's likely not to be successful. "The whole African continent has a common position, again, which is very similar to what China is saying," he said. 

On the expansion of the BRICS, Cwele noted that countries couldn't reach agreement on the criteria for including new members to the mechanism. 

"One of the questions was that they tended to focus on the economic size of the countries, which can never be the only criteria," he said, noting that the BRICS also has political and people-to-people elements. 

The BRICS countries unanimously believe that an expanded BRICS will play an important role in a multipolar world. The expansion of BRICS aligns with the vision of the founding BRICS countries, aims to reflect current realities, and increases the voice and representation of the global South in global governance, the South African envoy said at a panel discussion of the forum. 

BRICS expansion aligns with the reform vision of the founding BRICS countries, reflects current realities, and increases the voice and representation of the global South in various aspects of global governance. In this regard, we will continue to achieve consensus, which is also the foundation of BRICS cooperation. This enables countries to collaborate based on the principles of openness, inclusiveness, equality, mutual respect, solidarity, consensus-building, and mutual cooperation.