China, South Africa ink $6.5 bn deals during Xi visit
December 3, 2015, 4:58 am

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 2, 2015 [Xinhua]

Among them were agreements between the two nuclear operators, China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC) and South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) as well as a memorandum of understanding between South Africa’s Standard Bank and China’s top lender ICBC.

The two leaders also witnessed a $2.5 billion deal between logistics company Transnet and China Export Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) which would be used to finance procurement of mechanical, electrical products and equipment from Chinese enterprises. It would also cover funding for operation, maintenance and other services from Chinese enterprises in South Africa.

Zuma said on Wednesday that relations between the two nations were at their “best ever”.

As part of the 26 deals signed on Wednesday, China will lend South Africa’s cash-strapped power utility Eskom $500 million.

“China and South Africa relations are at a new historical level. We want to build it into a model for relationships between China and other emerging economies,” Xi told reporters in Pretoria.

The two nations also agreed to relax visa regulations for diplomatic and government passport holders.

Xi had earlier visited Zimbabwe where he and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe witnessed the signing of a $1 billion energy deal.

After his stay in Pretoria, Xi will leave for Johannesburg to co-chair with Zuma a two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which begins on Friday. Many African heads of state will attend the Summit including Nigeria’s President Muhammad Buhari and Zimbabwe’s Mugabe.

Ahead of the FOCAC meet, South African Foreign Minister said the Summit this year “affords the opportunity for introspection, leadership and decision-making at the highest level”.

“I expect that the Summit will be the backdrop for unprecedented announcements that will elevate the Africa-China partnership to a new path and which will contribute significantly to Africa’s growth.  For example I have been told that investment in industrialization and enhanced manufacturing capacity can be expected as part of the announcements. This would impact directly on job creation and poverty eradication,” she said.

Official Chinese data shows trade between China and Africa exceeded $220 billion in 2014.

China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for six years in a row with diplomatic ties with 50 African countries.

“When China established diplomatic ties with Egypt in 1956, the trade volume between China and Africa stood at roughly 12 million U.S. dollars, while by 2014, it already exceeded 220 billion dollars,” said Chinese envoy to Nigeria Gu Xiaojie.

China has dispatched 24,500 medical staff to 49 African countries since the government sent the first medical team abroad on aid mission in 1963, according to an official statement released ahead of the FOCAC Summit.

The FOCAC was upgraded this year into a summit.

For South Africa, the hosting of the sixth Forum for FOCAC promises to be a major event on the diplomatic calendar.

Beijing’s relations with South Africa have flourished in the past decade with massive Chinese investment across the country and the African continent.

South Africa-China trade jumped by 32 per cent between 2012 from R205 billion to R270 billion in 2013, making China the country’s largest trading partner.

Launched in 2000 by China and African countries, FOCAC has become an integral platform to enhance trade and cooperation between the two sides.

The summit this year is expected to adopt a declaration and action plan outlining measures aimed at consolidating China-Africa relations.

“China has consistently doubled its financing commitment to Africa during the past three FOCAC meetings — from $5 billion in 2006 to $10 billion in 2009 and $20 billion in 2012,” South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said in July this year.

South Africa through its partnership with China is joining in attempts by the BRICS bloc to upend the international order by fashioning a coalition to resist what these countries view as American arrogance.

“While the two countries are strikingly different in their cultural, political and socio-economic orientation, they are very close in the positions they take on key issues affecting mankind,” South Africa’s Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said last year, referring to common positions on Syria, Palestine and Iraq.

South Africa, one of Africa’s largest economies alongwith Nigeria, has become an increasingly important port of call for China as a gateway to the continent.

TBP and Agencies