South Africa wants to broaden the relationship with its biggest trade partner, China, from resource exports to partnership in infrastructure and green industries, the South African president and trade minister said yesterday.
“China indeed is a key strategic partner for South Africa, and South Africa is open for business in a big way,” South African President Jacob Zuma told a China-South African business forum during his first trip to China since taking office.
As a sign of Zuma’s seriousness, he was accompanied by 13 Cabinet ministers and a delegation of 370 businesspeople, the largest such group to travel with a South African president. Zuma was to hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) later yesterday.
South African Trade Minister Rob Davies said China became South Africa’s largest trade partner in 2008, and strong demand from China for its resources meant South African exports grew last year despite the global economic problems.
Davies said South Africa is eager to see other parts of its commercial ties developed in addition to natural resources, including investment in industries that develop infrastructure, as well as cooperation on solar water heaters and wind turbines, two areas where China has strong expertise.
Zuma and Davies witnessed the signing of 12 agreements, ranging from memorandums of understanding to possibly develop power grids to memorandums of cooperation to set up a cement plant in South Africa.
One of the agreements was for South Africa’s largest private health insurer, Discovery, to buy 20 percent of Ping An Health Insurance Co, a unit of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd, to jointly develop China’s nascent health insurance market.
Experts said Zuma was also expected to push for South Africa’s inclusion in an informal grouping of emerging markets made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The so-called BRIC nations work to boost trade among themselves and have called for a bigger role in major global financial decisions, primarily within institutions such as the IMF. Zuma has already visited Brazil, Russia and India to lobby for a role in the group, which could help raise South Africa’s political and economic clout.
“South Africa wants to become a member of the BRIC countries and hopes that China will offer support and coordination in this respect,” said Xu Weizhong (徐偉忠), professor and deputy head of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
Trade ties between Beijing and Johannesburg have grown rapidly in recent years, with China last year overtaking the US as South Africa’s largest export destination.
South Africa also imports more from China than it does any other country, and last year recorded a US$2.7 billion trade deficit with the Asian manufacturing giant — a gap Zuma will be looking to narrow.
South Africa provides iron ore and other vital resources for China, but also offers a strategic link to the rest of Africa, where China has been investing heavily in recent years.
Trade between China and Africa increased 10-fold since 2001, passing the US$100 billion-mark in 2008. Estimates of Chinese investment in Africa range upward from US$6 billion as China tries to lock up oil, gas and other key resources for its resource-hungry economy.
“China is a major player in Africa, and Africa is South Africa’s economic backyard,” said Francis Kornegay, a research associate with the Institute for Global Dialogue in Midrand, South Africa. “South Africa is pretty much a gateway hub for China’s activities in other parts of the continent.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese