JOHANNESBURG - The absence of key players from the G20 Summit should not be taken lightly.
That's according to International and Diplomacy Studies Professor Anthoni van Nieuwkerk. Nieuwkerk warns that the G20, as a symbol of multilateralism, is in trouble given the absentees.
"I see a cold war 2.0 emerging. A Trump administration bent on re-establishing American hegemony. There's a growing BRICS alliance under China in response to American assertiveness. The G20 falls between the cracks. The G20 is in a bit of trouble."
US President, Donald Trump, has recently boycotted the G20 summit in South Africa, claiming that South African internal policies are an attack on the Afrikaner community.
However, South Africa has learned that the US will not be the only country absent from the G20 leader's summit that South Africa is hosting. Other prominent names include President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, Argentinian President, Javier Milei, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, among others.
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South Africa will host next weekend's gathering without the United States, which has decided not to send any officials to the meeting.