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Yang Jiechi (R, front), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with South African State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba (L, front) in Durban, South Africa, June 28, 2018, one day ahead of the 8th meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

DURBAN, South Africa, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with South African State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba here on Thursday, one day ahead of the 8th meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues.

Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that as a comprehensive strategic partner with South Africa, China is committed to developing the "comrades and brothers" type of friendly relationship with South Africa.

Yang said that since this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, China-South Africa relations face a new and important opportunity for the development.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 10th BRICS summit next month in South Africa, Yang said, adding that China fully supports South Africa to host the meeting and will promote it to achieve fruitful results.

BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world's leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Yang said China will host the summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September in Beijing, which will figure out a new plan for the China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

China is willing to cooperate closely with South Africa to ensure that the two major events will be successful and inject strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations, Yang said.

For her part, Letsatsi-Duba said South Africa and China are not only cooperation partners but also brothers.

South Africa appreciates China's support and its important role in dealing with African issues, she said.

The minister said South Africa would like to take the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

It is important for the two sides to maintain high-level contacts, she said, adding that South Africa will ensure that both the BRICS summit and the FOCAC Beijing summit will be successful and promote BRICS cooperation to a higher level.