Expelled South African Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool said on Sunday that he returned home with "no regrets".
Rasool and his wife Rosieda Shabodien received a hero's welcome by hundreds of supporters after emerging in the arrivals terminal of Cape Town International Airport.
"Rosieda and I have just traveled about 32 hours from the United States via Doha to Cape Town. It was not our choice to come home, but we come home with no regrets," he told the welcoming crowd.
Earlier this month, Rasool, 62, was declared "persona non grata" by the U.S. after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called him a "race-baiting politician who hates America". It followed earlier remarks the ambassador had made during a webinar hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a South African think tank, in which he criticized President Donald Trump.
Addressing around 300 supporters at the airport, Rasool stated that while being labeled a "persona non grata" was meant to humiliate him, the warm reception turned it into a badge of honor.
He said that the United States took action to expel him in attempt to undermine South Africa's resolve to pursue an independent foreign policy, but South Africa will not change its stance under external pressure, and will continue to uphold independence and firm principles in international affairs.
Rasool said that South Africa has to rebuild and mend its relationship with the United States, as the foundation of relations between the two countries lies in their people, not merely in government-to-government exchanges.
Expelled South African ambassador to US returns home with 'no regrets'
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
