SA and China, the world’s second-largest economy behind the US, have agreed to work together to reduce a huge trade imbalance between them as they signed several agreements on infrastructure, energy, agriculture and education during a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Pretoria and Beijing, which have enjoyed a 25-year diplomatic relationship, are the largest trading partners in Africa and the Brics bloc of emerging economies. However, trade between the two countries has been skewed in favour of the Asian economic powerhouse, which exported $10.9bn more goods to SA than it imported in 2022 compared with a deficit of $1.68bn in 2011.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who hosted Xi before the Brics summit in Johannesburg this week, said he wants to see more market access for SA value-added products in China such as wine, fruit and minerals.
“We have discussed the need to narrow the trade deficit between SA and China, and one of the ways to do this is by ensuring greater market access for value-added SA export goods into the Chinese market,” Ramaphosa said.
The Chinese president said he is willing to work with Ramaphosa to push the China-SA partnership to a new level.
The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and co-operation on global issues such as the reform of the global governance system and the promotion of a more equitable and inclusive international order.
“On multilateral co-operation, President Xi and I have agreed to consult closely on issues of common concern, including in the context of Brics, the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, the G77 plus China, and the G20,” Ramaphosa said.
The two countries have similar sentiments on the expansion of Brics membership to include more developing countries, especially in Africa and the Global South.
Similar views
“SA and China have similar views on the expansion of Brics membership and we look forward to the discussions we will have on this matter during the Brics leaders retreat,” he said.
Brics economies accounted for about 21.3% of SA’s total trade with the world in 2022, of which China accounted for 67.6%, India 26.5%, Brazil 4.2% and Russia 1.7%, according to data from the Industrial Development Corporation.
Relations between SA, one of Africa’s most diversified economies, and China are governed by a comprehensive strategic partnership whose programme of action is set out in a 10-year strategic programme of co-operation, the presidency says.
Among the agreements signed during Xi’s visit were a donation of emergency power equipment to the value of R167m to SA, a grant of about R500m for development assistance and a memorandum of understanding on co-operation in energy.
“Chinese companies, encouraged by your government, responded with enthusiasm to our investment drive, which has raised more than R1.5-trillion in investment commitments over the past five years,” Ramaphosa told Xi.
“Energy co-operation is a recent development that we look to deepen, particularly in line with our respective commitments to low-carbon-resilient development,” he said.
On Thursday, electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is expected to sign a trade deal with eight Chinese entities in energy including the China State Grid Corporation.
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