In January 2023, South Africa and China will celebrate 25 years of formal diplomatic relations amid rapidly-changing geopolitics that the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres fears are drifting away from international cooperation.
The SA-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has served as a bond that has kept the bilateral relations flourishing, resulting in China being SA’s biggest foreign trade partner over the last 13 consecutive years.
Last year alone, SA’s total volume trade with China reached R544 billion. “Chinese enterprises have created 400 000 jobs in SA, “and create another 20 000 within three years”, China’s embassy in Pretoria said.
In April, the SA-China Economic and Trade Association hosted a Jobs Fair in Johannesburg, during which 1000 jobs were offered to SA youth as part of the initiative to create 20 000 jobs in the next three years.
This week in Pretoria, the embassy of China held a high-level celebration of the national day of the People’s Republic of China. Among the list of dignitaries who turned up to grace the occasion were former President Kgalema Motlanthe and his wife Gugu.
Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who is the Minister of Small Business Development, addressed the event as a delegated authority on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government.
Also in attendance was Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development, who also chairs the ANC’s International Relations Subcommittee.
Minister Thulas Nxesi of the Department of Employment and Labour who is also the national chairperson of the SA Communist Party attended China’s 73rd National Day reception.
Other high-profile attendees included Cassel Mathale, Deputy Minister of Police and also retired SANDF chief General Solly Shoke.
Ndabeni-Abrahams, speaking on behalf of the government, told the gathering: “South Africa proudly acknowledges that our partnership has withstood the storm precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and that our comprehensive partnership continues to be strong.”
“China,” Ndabeni-Abrahams further told the gathered dignitaries, “has shown the world how hard work, resilience, and determination all joined together to build a nation that can stand tall amongst the community of nations, to grow, and to reap the benefits of economic development and industrialization.”
The People’s Republic of China was officially founded on 1 October 1949. The 73rd birthday of the world’s most populous nation was marked under the theme the “Year of the Water Tiger”.
In traditional Chinese customs, the Year of the Tiger represents “strength, bravery and wisdom”.
Stella-Ndabeni appealed to the Chinese companies “to be brave, strong, and show wisdom like Water Tigers by coming to South African shores and recognise the benefits of using our country as a base from where to access the largest emerging single market in the world, the continent of Africa”.
She added that South Africa “remains a gateway to the Continent, and has the infrastructure and other services required to support manufacturing and corporate investment both domestically and the rest of Africa”.
Amidst a climate of frosty geopolitical relations particularly between the Global North and Global South, bilateral relations between Pretoria and Beijing continue to blossom.
For instance, recently a team of Chinese experts visited SA to assist in the development of small harbours in the country.
The project forms part of the larger Oceans Economy initiative in SA, which is also referred to as “Operation Phakisa”.
It is primarily aimed at fast-tracking the National Development Plan (NDP) objectives, which seek to boost the socio-economic development of the developmental state that is SA.
Addressing the same event, China’s ambassador to SA, Chen Xiaodong, waxed lyrical about the flourishing bilateral relations between Beijing and Pretoria.
“Presidents Xi and Ramaphosa have spoken on the phone and exchanged letters several times. They have jointly attended the BRICS Summit and the high-level Dialogue on Global Development, and reached broad consensus on strengthening bilateral solidarity and cooperation,” Amb Chen said.
“China and South Africa,” he continued, “signed the Ten-Year Strategic Programme on Cooperation (2020-2030), which provides a comprehensive guidance to the development of China-South Africa relations under the new circumstances.”
Next year, China and SA will celebrate 25th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, and SA will take over the BRICS presidency. New historical opportunities lie in the horizon.
Amb Chen also echoed the UN’s chief Guterres’ sentiments for multilateralism as the most ideal vehicle for world peace, security and development. “China and South Africa have always practiced true multilateralism, and safe-guarded world fairness and justice,” he said.
Ambassador Chen further explained: “As President Xi Jinping pointed out at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), China believes in international cooperation to overcome difficulties together, and more importantly, China takes concrete actions to provide high-quality public goods to the world.”
He also said the world was in the grip of a “peace deficit”. President Xi’s response to this has been the “Global Security Initiative” (GSI), which advocates a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security”.
He continued: “President Xi’s GSI approach follows the philosophy that humanity is an indivisible security community, and aims to create a new path to security that features dialogue over confrontation, partnership over the alliance and win-win over zero-sum.”
To bridge the development gap between the North and the South, President Xi has proposed the “Global Development Initiative (GDI), and announced a series of programmes such as the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund”.
He further pledged an increased input by China into the UN Peace Development Trust Fund. This will help in the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said Amb Chen.
More than 100 countries out of the UN General Assembly’s 193 member-states and many international organizations have supported China’s initiatives.
Amb Chen revealed that China will expand cooperation “in new energy, 5G, digital economy, e-commerce, smart cities and other new industries”.
He concluded by saying: “China welcomes exports of more high-quality products from SA. We will further enhance exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, education, science and technology, health and military, so as to bring the two peoples closer together.”
Amb Chen added: “As the African proverb goes, only those who are traveling on the same path are true friends.”
