The relationship between China and South
Africa will enter into an unprecedented year of development starting the first
day of 2018 when the two countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic
ties. South Africa, as Africa's largest economy, not only successfully hosted
the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in
December 2015, but also has actively aligned itself with the Belt and Road
Initiative. Moreover, boosted by the achievements made at the summit and the
Belt and Road Initiative, China-South Africa relations will embrace their best
development period in history, and will serve as an engine leading the
development of China-Africa relations.
Pragmatic cooperation
FOCAC, established in 2000, has been an
important platform and effective mechanism for conducting collective dialogues
and pragmatic cooperation between China and African countries. After the Belt
and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, FOCAC, as an effective cooperation
mechanism, gained a new impetus for development. At the FOCAC Johannesburg
Summit, the first of its kind held on the African continent, Chinese President
Xi Jinping announced China's 10 major plans to boost cooperation with Africa.
To ensure the successful implementation of these plans, which are driven by
efforts to accelerate Africa's industrialization and China-Africa cooperation
in production capacity, China pledged $60 billion in funding support to Africa.
Many of locomotives in South Africa are
produced in China XINHUA
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin
Songtian said that South Africa is a foothold to align the African continent
with the Belt and Road Initiative in a pragmatic manner. Bilateral cooperation
to promote connectivity of policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people
has achieved fruitful outcomes under the framework of the initiative.
Multiple areas of interest
As for policy, the two countries, both
developing nations and emerging markets, have closely aligned their visions in
the international organizations and multilateral platforms like the UN, G20,
and BRICS in an effort to improve global governance and safeguard the common
interests of developing countries. The two countries signed the China-South
Africa 5-10 Year Framework on Cooperation in 2015.
In the area of connectivity of
infrastructure and facilities, there are several direct flights and freight
ships routes between the two countries. Locomotives made in China have been
exported to South Africa on a large scale. Chinese IT firms like Huawei and ZTE
have been actively participating in the telecommunications infrastructure
construction in South Africa, while a number of important bilateral
infrastructure cooperation projects are being actively promoted.
Trade between the two countries has strong
economic complementarity which explains why China is the largest trade partner
of South Africa for eight consecutive years. And South Africa is China's
largest trade partner in Africa for seven years in a row.
Huawei and South African officials held a
farewell ceremony for the first batch of trainees of the "Seeds for the
Future" project
Financial integration and cooperation is
also a sphere of fruitful and beneficial results. In October 2007, Chinese
state-owned bank ICBC bought a 20-percent stake in South Africa's Standard
Bank. China's first bank for providing RMB clearing service in Africa is
located in South Africa and RMB has been made a South African reserve currency.
Offshore renminbi bonds have also been issued in South Africa.
In the all-important field of
people-to-people ties, Chinese language has been included in the national
education system of South Africa, and China-South Africa High-Level
People-to-People Exchange Mechanism was established in early 2017. To highlight
the close collaboration, the Year of South Africa was celebrated in China in
2014 and the Year of China was held in South Africa the following year.
Besides, China's first Zulu language course was officially launched in Beijing
Foreign Studies University in 2017.
Local people visit Huawei Information and
Communications Technology Innovation and Experience Center in Johannesburg in
2016.
Looking ahead, China and South Africa will
continue to expand common interests and areas for partnerships. The focus will
be on infrastructure, human resource training, production capacity building,
agricultural modernization, maritime economy, tourism, finance, security,
people-to-people exchanges and cooperation on international affairs. What
deserves special mention is the field of marine economy. South Africa has a
huge potential for marine economy and is an important strategic pivot for the
21st Century Maritime Silk Road on the continent. In the future, the two
countries should carry out marine economic cooperation based on port,
shipbuilding and fisheries.
SA's leading role
Being acknowledged as Africa's economic
powerhouse, South Africa is also important politically and in the field of
diplomacy. South Africa has been working relentlessly to promote the
development of the continent and regional peace and security. The country's
World Cup 2010 hosting was a great success. In addition, South Africa is the
only African country in the BRICS bloc and the G20. Because of this, South
Africa has unique influence and plays an important role in advancing the
development of Sino-African relations. The year 2018 will be a new milestone
for China-Africa relations. South Africa will host the BRICS Summit in 2018 and
China is to host the Seventh FOCAC Ministerial Conference. These events will
not only provide a guide for future development of the diplomatic ties between
China and South Africa, but also contribute to the future sustainable
development of China-Africa relations on the whole. Therefore, we should push
forward the ongoing development of China-South Africa relations and give full
play to South Africa's role as an important bridgehead to align the continent with
the Belt and Road Initiative. This initiative will enhance the continent's
cooperation with China for common development, so as to make a greater
contribution to the development of China-Africa relations and world peace.
He Wenping is a senior researcher at the Charhar Institute and a research fellow at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Source: Chinafrica, 2018.1.5