Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine and called for an end to the conflict.
This follows a telephone discussion between Xi and Ramaphosa on Friday.
Xi is the second leader that Ramaphosa has confirmed he has spoken to after the conflict erupted in Ukraine.
A week ago he took a call from Russian president Vladimir Putin, and during the question and answer session in the national legislature this week, Ramaphosa said Putin had emphasised the issue of negotiations to finding a solution.
On Friday he said he had held similar talks with Xi.
“Thank you President Xi Jinping for a productive call earlier today, where we exchanged views on several issues of global importance. We expressed our concern about the conflict in Ukraine and the need to end the hostilities and find a lasting peace,” said Ramaphosa.
The president also said this week he had been asked to mediate in Ukraine.
He called for an end to the conflict, saying durable peace was needed in Ukraine.
Ramaphosa had said it would be wrong to simply blame one side and urged both parties to come to the negotiating table.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has also been urged to play a leading role in ending the conflict.
Ramaphosa this week also called for the reform of the UN Security Council.
Ramaphosa said it was wrong that for a continent like Africa, with a population of 1.3 billion people, it does not have a permanent seat in the security council.
POLITICAL BUREAU