South African President: The US absence from the G20 summit is "their own loss"

South African President Ramaphosa said that the United States' absence from the G20 summit in Johannesburg was "their own loss" and that boycotting the summit would only "backfire".

Xinhua News Agency reported that Ramaphosa said in an interview with the South African media "Africa Electronic News Channel" outside the South African parliament on Tuesday afternoon (November 12) that it was regrettable that the United States had decided not to attend the G20 summit, but the summit would be held as usual and leaders of other countries would still attend. Ultimately, we will make some very significant decisions, and their absence will be their own loss. In many respects, by doing so, the United States is also giving up the important role it should play as the world's largest economy.

Ramaphosa also said that the United States needs to rethink whether boycotting this G20 summit is really useful. In Ramaphosa's view, this won't work. It's better to integrate into it than to stay out of it. He believes that "resistance is never an effective strategy and will have the opposite effect."

Relations between the United States and South Africa have been tense since the beginning of this year. Trump has repeatedly attacked South Africa and stated that he himself would not attend the G20 Summit in Johannesburg. On November 7th, Trump once again criticized South Africa and said that US government officials would be absent from the summit.

The 20th G20 Summit is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 22nd to 23rd.