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China's Hu due in key continental partner South Africa
2007-02-05
Chinese President Hu Jintao jets in to South Africa on Tuesday to buttress ties with Beijing's main trading partner on the continent and a key ally in pushing the developing world's agenda. Hu, currently on an eight-nation African safari marked by Beijing's largesse of millions of dollars to nations fuelling China's economic juggernaut, flies in to the continent's economic powerhouse from neighbouring Namibia. He is expected to receive the full red carpet treatment when he arrives in the capital Pretoria where he is scheduled to hold talks with his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki and sign a slew of trade agreements. The Chinese leader is also due to outline ways in which Beijing will back a homespun South African programme aimed at achieving more rapid and balanced economic growth. Ties between the two continental giants have expanded at breakneck speed after diplomatic relations were established in 1998, four years after the demise of apartheid. Apartheid South Africa had shunned diplomatic relations with China, allying instead with Taiwan, another international pariah during that epoch. China has become South Africa's second-largest import trading partner in 2005 and eighth-largest export partner, according to the foreign ministry. By the end of 2005, South Africa was exporting around 1.2 billion dollars worth of goods to China while the level of imports was worth 4.35 billion dollars. While the balance of trade remains far in Beijing's favour, Chinese firms are now getting involved in joint venture operations to access raw materials. "President Hu's visit will enhance the China-South Africa practical cooperation in all fields and promote the comprehensive and in-depth growth of our strategic partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit and common development," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said ahead of the visit. "China-South Africa relations have enjoyed all-round and fast growth since the forging of diplomatic ties in 1998," the official Chinese Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying. Beijing and Pretoria have also closely cooperated in pushing the agenda of the have-nots in forums such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. Both favour a revamp of the UN and greater market access and tariff-free trade for developing countries which are striving for more concessions from wealthy nations. Bilateral trade ties were clouded slightly by accusations that cheap Chinese textiles were flooding the South African market and stifling local firms but Beijing last year agreed to put a cap on exports for two years. That move prompted South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad to say: "I think that is a good political indication that China is willing to listen to, even if they don't necessarily agree, to see where they can help developing countries." South Africa has meanwhile stood by China in the face of growing criticism that Beijing is only interested in exploiting the vast mineral and oil riches of the world's poorest continent and dumping cheap and often sub-standard goods here. South African President Mbeki has expressed confidence that China will not "replicate the historic colonial economic relationship in terms of which Africa served as a source of raw materials and a market for goods manufactured in the countries of the colonisers." "China understands that she can only prosper on a sustainable basis if Africa prospers on a sustainable basis," added Mbeki in a recent newsletter to members of his African National Congress. While in Namibia, Hu signed agreements extending a grant of 4.1 million dollars and a soft loan for the same amount. The two countries inked pacts on economic and technical cooperation and boosting group tourism from China. The Chinese president has also pledged 800 million dollars to develop copper mines in Zambia, his last stop before Namibia, and waived nearly eight million dollars of the impoverished southern African country's debt. Hu started his swing through Africa in Cameroon, going on to Liberia, Sudan, Zambia and Namibia. From South Africa, he travels on to Mozambique and the Seychelles. Before Hu's departure for Africa, Beijing said it would write off debts owed by 33 African countries as part of a multi-billion-dollar pledge made last year to help fast-track the continent's development.
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