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After 20 years of diplomatic ties, how can China and South Africa integrate their cooperation further
CHINAFRICA  ·2017-12-19

January 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of China-South Africa diplomatic relations. The 20 years have witnessed rapid growth of bilateral ties of the two countries in all aspects through interactions under the frameworks such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) cooperation platform and the Belt and Road Initiative. But how can the two countries further integrate their cooperation under these frameworks and what is the outlook for China-South Africa relations in the coming decades? Lin Songtian, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, shared his viewpoints on these and other points in an exclusive interview with ChinAfrica. Edited excerpts of his thoughts follow:

ChinAfrica: What is your take on the current economic and trade relationship between China and South Africa?

Lin Songtian: At present, the economic and trade cooperation between China and South Africa has seen solid progress and shows good momentum of multi-directional, multilevel and wide-ranging rapid development. China has been South Africa's largest trading partner for eight consecutive years, and South Africa is China's largest trading partner and the most important investment and tourism destination in Africa. In 2016, the bilateral trade volume between China and South Africa reached $35.3 billion [according to China's customs], accounting for about 25 percent of the total trade volume between China and Africa, which was a 20-fold increase from 1998 when the two countries established diplomatic relations. China's non-financial direct investment in South Africa has accumulated to more than $15 billion.

Currently, China has more than 300 large and medium-sized enterprises with investment in South Africa, involving a wide range of sectors such as finance, agriculture, manufacturing, information technology and other fields.

[These include] South Africa's state-owned transport group [Transnet] ordering 232 diesel locomotives from China's CRRC Corp. Ltd. worth a total of $900 million, which is the largest single order in China's rail transit vehicle export.

As China's new ambassador to South Africa, what do you think will be the focus of the Sino-South African relationship going forward?

China and South Africa will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2018, the first year after the landmark 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is also the first year of the second golden decade for the BRICS cooperation mechanism. China is to host the next FOCAC Ministerial Conference. These all present both sides opportunities to deepen bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

South Africa, the largest economy in Africa, enjoys an advantageous geographical location and abundant resources. It has sound infrastructure, legal system and business environment. China has capital, technology, market, and experience of development to share with South Africa. Both economies are highly complementary and share common interests, presenting a historical opportunity for common development.

China and South Africa will make full use of close bilateral ties featuring political mutual trust, complementary economies and people's friendship to expand common interests and areas for partnerships. The focuses will be infrastructure, human resource training, production capacity building, agricultural modernization, maritime economy, tourism, finance, security, people-to-people exchanges and cooperation on international affairs. The aim of our partnership is to enable South Africa to spearhead industrialization and economic development in the whole continent and cooperate to benefit people of both countries.

It has been two years since the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit held in December 2015. How are the outcomes of the summit being implemented? China will host the next FOCAC Ministerial Conference in 2018. How can this mechanism boost China-Africa partnership?

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced 10 major China-Africa cooperation plans to boost African industrialization and agricultural modernization. He pledged China would offer $60 billion of funding support, helping African countries break the three development bottlenecks of dilapidated infrastructure, talent shortage and inadequate funds, and realize independent and sustainable development.

With joint efforts, many achievements have been made in regard to the implementation of the achievements made at the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit. According to incomplete statistics, there have been 606 finished and unfinished Chinese supported projects in Africa valued at $108 billion since the summit. China has trained 100,000 technicians for African countries and offered about 20,000 government scholarships to African students. The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway and the Abuja-Kaduna Railway have been completed.

The FOCAC conference next year will be a new milestone for China-Africa cooperation. China is ready to take this opportunity to upgrade the cooperation to a new level by aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with visions of African countries. The coming conference will push forward cooperation on areas of politics, economy, culture, security and international affairs, and further enrich China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

To this end, China and South Africa should further expand new economic partnerships. First, we will align economic construction into the Belt and Road Initiative, explore maritime economic cooperation, and foster new sources of economic growth to diversify our economies. Second, we can tap into the potential of China's four current major achievements, which are high-speed train, mobile pay, shared bikes and online shopping, to accelerate the modernization of Africa. Third, we will support settlements in renminbi, China's currency, in China-Africa trade to help African countries lower currency exchange costs and foreign-exchange risks. Fourth, we will deepen security cooperation to create a safe and peaceful environment for African economies and China-Africa cooperation. Fifth, we will make joint efforts on enhancing partnership in the medical sector to help Africa solve the problem of insufficient medicine and medical services.

Since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, what achievements have been made in Sino-South African cooperation in this regard?

With a well-developed economy, South Africa is one of the most attractive destinations for tourists and investment from China. It is also a country of choice for China's international production capacity cooperation program, and a foothold to align the African continent with the Belt and Road Initiative. Bilateral cooperation to promote connectivity of policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people has achieved fruitful outcomes.

As for policy coordination, state leaders of both countries and personnel at all levels maintain close and frequent exchanges. As comprehensive strategic partners, China and South Africa share a similar stance on international affairs and important issues like the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and climate change. The two countries keep close coordination and cooperation in international organizations and multilateral platforms like the UN, G20, BRICS and FOCAC in an effort to improve global governance and safeguard the common interests of developing countries. Our cooperation in this regard also contributes to African unity, economic integration and the shared development of China and Africa.

As for connectivity of infrastructure and facilities, there are several direct flights and freight ships between the two countries. Locomotives made in China have been exported to South Africa. Chinese IT firms like Huawei and ZTE have been actively participating in the telecommunications infrastructure construction in South Africa.

As for unimpeded trade, 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. Over the past years, bilateral trade took up about a quarter of China-Africa total trade.

As for financial integration, South Africa attracts the most Chinese investment in Africa. Financial cooperation is fruitful and beneficial. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, China Development Bank and China-Africa Development Fund have set up branches or launched businesses in South Africa. China's first bank providing renminbi clearing service in Africa is located in South Africa. Renminbi has been made one of South Africa's reserve currencies. Offshore renminbi bonds have been issued in South Africa.

On the topic of closer people-to-people ties, Chinese language teaching has been included in the national education system of South Africa. China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism was established in early 2017. The Year of South Africa was celebrated in China in 2014 and the Year of China was held in South Africa the following year.

South Africa is the No.1 destination in Africa for tourists from the Chinese mainland. It has the most Chinese sister cities and Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, and receives the most overseas Chinese and Chinese students.

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