CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa's Department of Defense said Thursday it has asked China to postpone naval exercises that would have brought Chinese and Russian warships to South African waters around the time the country hosts a Group of 20 summit.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been invited to attend the summit in Johannesburg on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, although it's unclear if he will attend following his criticism of South Africa as a country he has “a lot of problems with.”

South Africa holds joint naval exercises with China and Russia — its partners in the BRICS bloc — every two years and the exercises scheduled for late November were part of that agreement. China is the lead nation of this year's exercises to be held in South African waters.

The Department of Defense said in

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