China and South Africa seek balanced trade and more investment

At a meeting of the two leaders in Beijing, China and South Africa agreed to promote balanced trade and discussed promoting mutual investment between their industrial and trading communities, according to a joint statement on Tuesday.

President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa met on Monday ahead of the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Both sides described Ramaphosa's visit as “of great significance” for the development of bilateral relations.

Ramaphosa had asked Xi to reduce South Africa's trade deficit with Beijing and review his country's trade structure with China, and advocated for more sustainable production and job-creating investments.

China, the world's second-largest economy, is South Africa's largest trading partner globally, but the value of its imports from China far exceeded the value of its exports last year.

In the joint statement, China expressed its willingness to boost job creation and pointed to recruitment conferences for Chinese companies to promote local employment in South Africa.

The declaration also mentions the creation of new production sites close to the origin of relevant raw materials and the promotion of technology and skills transfer between companies.

According to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China is also willing to share its experience in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization more widely.

Following the meeting, both countries signed numerous cooperation documents, including the use of a satellite navigation system, housing and settlement construction, and export regulations for dairy products and raw wool from South Africa to China.

Both countries aim to expand their cooperation in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage, transmission and distribution, the statement said. They would also jointly host a new energy investment conference to be organized by their chambers of commerce and associations.

However, this document did not contain any concrete commitments to new investments or financing.

In contrast, Chinese energy companies, meeting in Johannesburg last August ahead of a BRICS summit, committed to modernizing South Africa's nuclear power plants, extending the lifespan of coal-fired power plants and building factories across the country to produce transformers and photovoltaic modules.

Ramaphosa then said Beijing had given the energy sector a R500-million grant, but did not give a timeframe.

In Beijing, the two heads of state also called on the international community to support African countries in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. This free trade agreement would create the world's largest free trade area and a single continental market for goods and services that would support Africa's integration.

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  Reuters

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