President Cyril Ramaphosa and the President of China Xi Jinping are meeting this week. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
Dr Sizo Nkala
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to arrive in South Africa on a state visit on August 22 where he will meet his counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa. This will be his fourth state visit to the country having hitherto visited in 2013, 2015 and 2018 and his first visit to Africa since 2018. President Xi’s state visit coincides with the 15th BRICS Summit which is set to take place on August 22-24. The visit also marks 25 years of official diplomatic relations between China and South Africa. However, the relations between the two countries go back to the second half of the 20th century when the Communist Party of China (CPC) supported the anti-apartheid Struggle in South Africa. The two countries have seen their relationship grow tremendously in the last 25 years across the cultural, economic, political and security domains. The relationship was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2010 which meant that South Africa was going to become China’s main ally in Africa. South Africa is China’s largest trading partner in Africa with trade among the two countries reaching $56 billion in 2022 which is about 20% of China’s trade with the entire African continent in the same year. For perspective, this is almost three times the trade between the US and South Africa which amounted to $21 billion in 2022. China is also South Africa’s largest trading partner overall having received 9.4% of South Africa’s exports and been the source of just over 20% of South Africa’s imports.
However, although the volume of trade between is impressive, the bulk of South Africa’s exports to China consists of minerals (about 63%) which does not add much value to South Africa’s economy. Hence, one would hope that when the two leaders meet, they will explore ways to transform the quality and structure of trade between their countries.
China is also a significant source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Africa. Its FDI stock in the country rose spectacularly in the last two decades from just below $45 million in 2003 to $5.4bn by 2020. Chinese investment in South Africa has been distributed across various sectors of the economy including mining, banking, agriculture, media, retail, and technology to name a few. Some of the biggest Chinese companies with their African regional headquarters in South Africa include China Construction Bank (CCB), China Harbour Engineering Company, China Telecom South Africa, and Huawei Technologies among others. These investments create hundreds of thousands of jobs for South African citizens and therefore contribute to the economic development of the country. South Africa also has significant investments in China with companies such as Sasol, Discovery, SAB Miller, and Sanlam having operations in China. The two leaders will seek to expand their investment ties for the benefit of their countries. Nonetheless, Sino-South African relations go beyond their economic cooperation. China has a massive human footprint in South Africa with about 350,000 Chinese people living in the country. These people serve as a vital bridge between the two countries especially at the people-to-people level. South Africa is also home to six Confucius Institutes whose role is to teach Chinese language, history, and culture to young South Africans. Cultural cooperation will enhance mutual understanding and further strengthen the two countries’ relations.
South Africa and China have enjoyed mutually beneficial geopolitical relationship supporting each other’s interests on international platforms. Both South Africa and China, through the BRICS platform have consistently called for the reform of global governance institutions such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Both countries have committed to enhancing and intensifying South-South cooperation for the benefit of the developing countries. On important global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, China and South Africa have adopted similar positions to the chagrin of the Western powers. On the Covid-19 pandemic South Africa refused to blame China as the West had done and both countries criticised the hoarding of vaccines by Western countries. Moreover, South Africa has resisted pressure from the US to blacklist the Chinese technology giant Huawei. The company was banned from operating in the US and other European countries because of alleged security concerns. However, South Africa dismissed these allegations and allowed Huawei to develop the 5G network in the country. The two countries have also adopted a similar position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict by refusing to be part of the Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. China and South Africa have emphasised the need to find peaceful ways of ending the conflict by bringing the warring parties to the negotiating table rather than taking one party’s side against the other. Further, despite spirited criticism from the West, China and South Africa joined Russia in conducting a joint naval exercise in South Africa’s Richards Bay. More than anything, this exercise was an expression of solidarity between South Africa and China. President Xi’s visit is likely to reinforce and reaffirm the Sino-South African international solidarity.
Dr Sizo Nkala is A Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Africa-China Studies
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.