 | This articleis missing information about relations between China and South Africa before 1992. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(September 2025) |
 | |
 China |  South Africa |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of China, Pretoria [zh] | Embassy of South Africa, Beijing |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Chen Xiaodong | AmbassadorSiyabonga Cwele[1] |
ThePeople's Republic of China (PRC) established diplomatic relations withRepublic of South Africa (RSA) in January 1998. South Africa is one of the African countries that China most prioritizes withinChinese-African foreign relations.[2]: 109 In 2010, China was South Africa's largest trading partner.[3] Since 2007, China-South African relations have become increasingly close with increasing trade, policy and political ties.[4][5] In the 2010 Beijing Declaration, South Africa was upgraded to the diplomatic status ofStrategic Comprehensive Partner by the Chinese government.[6] South Africa increasingly votes in alignment with China in theUnited Nations.[7]
Official relations between the PRC and South Africa were established on January 1, 1998.[2]: 349 The dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa and thefall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s opened up the possibility of official relations being established between the PRC and South Africa. Before the 1990s South Africa had a close official relationship with the government inTaiwan for strategic and economic reasons.[citation needed]
Prior to the establishment of full diplomatic relations,South Africa and thePeople's Republic of China established "cultural centres" inBeijing andPretoria, known as the South African Centre for Chinese Studies and the Chinese Centre for South African Studies respectively.[8] Although the Centres, each headed by a Director, did not usediplomatic titles,national flags, orcoats of arms, their staff useddiplomatic passports and were issued with diplomatic identity documents, while their vehicles haddiplomatic number plates.[9] They also performed visa and consular services.[10]
Thehandover ofHong Kong to the PRC in 1997 was a factor in the switch in official recognition, as South Africa had strongtrade links with the territory, then underBritish administration. Pretoria was concerned that after the handover,Beijing might downgrade its consulate and the country would no longer be allowed to use Hong Kong as a transit route for air traffic and trade.[11] In addition, key South African politicians and government officials in the post-apartheid government, most notably theCommunist Party of South Africa, lobbied strongly in support of shifting recognition to the PRC.[12]
However, Taiwan lobbied hard for continued South African recognition and initiated an expensive public relations drive to convince members of the anti-apartheid government. Then PresidentNelson Mandela argued in favour of a 'Two Chinas' policy that was incompatible with the Beijing'sOne China principle.[citation needed]
After many years of strong lobbying and engagement with Mandela in November 1996 the South African government announced that it would switch recognition from Taiwan to the PRC in January 1998.[13] A visit by Taipei's Foreign MinisterJohn Chiang to meet withAlfred Nzo and attempt to salvage the situation produced no results, and so Taipei's ambassador to PretoriaGene Loh was recalled on 6 December 1996.[14][15] South Africa has since followed the one China principle.[16]
In 1992, trade between China and South Africa amounted toUS$14 million, but by the time the two countries had established relations in 1998, this had swelled to US$1.4 billion.[17]: 182 By 2010 trade between the two countries had increased to US$25.6 billion with imports from South Africa reaching US$14.8 billion. Cross country investment had grown to US$7 billion in the same year. Most South African exports to China in 2010 wereprimary products.[18] Two-way trade between China and South Africa reached US$60.3 billion by 2014.[19]
As China began anew town construction boom around 2010, the Chinese government andstate-owned enterprises began developing new towns with African governments, including South Africa.[20]: 316
In December 2010, South Africa was invited to join China inBRICS group of emerging economies.[21] With the invitation, it was expected that South Africa would expand its trade relations with other BRIC countries, including China. Some see the BRICS relationship as potentially competing with South Africa's relations with theIBSA Dialogue Forum.[22] In July 2010, the South African publicationBusiness Day reported that 45% ofSABMiller's growth would come from its China operations by 2014. The anomalous growth of South African media companyNaspers in 2009 was largely owed to its stake in the Chinese companyTencent.[23]
In December 2015 the two countries signed twenty-five agreements worth a combined value of US$16.5 billion at an event at theForum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Business Forum held in South Africa and attended by about 400 business people from both countries. At the same event, the two countries discussed economic priority such as the "alignment of industries to accelerate South Africa's industrialisation process; enhancement of cooperation in Special Economic Zones (SEZs); marine cooperation; infrastructure development, human resources cooperation; and financial cooperation."[19]
As of 2015/16 there were over 140 medium-sized or large Chinese companies in South Africa with a combined investment of US$13 billion, employing around 30,000 South Africans. Significant investments by Chinese firms in South Africa include the China First Automotive assembly plant in Coega Industrial Park, aHisense Group white goods factory, and a Hebei Jidong Development Group cement plant.[24]
Increasingly the South African government, inspired byChina's success in reducing poverty and promoting economic growth, is looking to China for policy ideas and inspiration in its efforts at promoting growth.[23]
In 2020 South Africa was estimated to owe the equivalent of 4% of its annual GDP to Chinese lenders.[25]
In July 2018, China announced to invest $15 billion in South Africa's economy which included loans for power utilities and infrastructure.[citation needed] Chinese loans to South African power utilityEskom have proven controversial amidst accusations that it was an example ofdebt-trap diplomacy by China.[26] In 2018 an additionalR370 billion (US$25.8 billion) loan from the China Development Bank was issued to the South African government as part of aneconomic stimulus package. The size of loan and the lack of public information about it was controversial[27][28] and criticized by opposition parties as a possibly pushing South Africa into a "debt trap".[29]
From 2000 to 2011, there are approximately 37 Chinese official development finance projects identified in South Africa through various media reports.[30] These projects range from a financial cooperation agreement worth of $2.5 US billion between the Development Bank of South Africa and the China Development Bank,[31] to an investment of $877 million by China's state-owned miner Jinchuan and China Development Bank in South Africa's platinum industry,[32] and an investment of US$250 million by China's Huaqiang Holdings in a theme park in Johannesburg.[33]
In the early nineties, before South Africa officially recognised the PRC, Chinese Foreign Minister andCCP Politburo memberQian Qichen (钱其琛) paid an unofficial and very quiet visit to South Africa to meet senior government ministers and inspect possible future embassy sites. Then South African Minister for Foreign Relations,Pik Botha, interrupted his participation in theCODESA talks to have the first high-level meeting between South Africa and the PRC.[17]: 177 In October 1991 a South African delegation including Pik Botha went to Beijing to meet Qian Qichen.[17]: 168–169
In September 2007 then South African Deputy PresidentPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka visited Beijing and met withGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyHu Jintao (胡锦涛).[34] After which she gave a speech atTsinghua University on building China-South African relations.[35]
China-South African relations expanded significantly in 2010 following a number of high-level official visits and exchanges by officials from both countries. In late March 2010CPPCC ChairmanJia Qinglin (贾庆林) visited South Africa and met with South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and signed contracts worth more than US$300 million.[36]
In August 2010 President Jacob Zuma led a South African delegation of 17 cabinet members and 300 businesspeople to China[3][37] where they signed theBeijing Declaration on the Establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa. This was followed by a visit to China by speaker of theNational Assembly of South AfricaMax Sisulu in October 2010. In November 2010 Chinese Vice PresidentXi Jinping (习近平) travelled to South Africa to meet with South African Vice PresidentMotlanthe and signed bilateral cooperation agreements in energy, trade statistics, banking regulation and other areas.[36] His visit was followed by an official goodwill visit to South Africa by China's top legislatorWu Bangguo (吴邦国) in May 2011 as part of his Africa-Asia tour which included Namibia and Angola.[38]
In late September 2011 South African Vice President Motlanthe lead a trade delegation to Beijing at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi. During the visit theChina Development Bank and theDevelopment Bank of South Africa signed a US$2.5 billion agreement. The two countries also signed aMemorandum of Understanding on geological exploration and mineral resources.[39]
On the 17 July 2012 President Zuma led a South African delegation that included International Relations MinisterMaite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister in the PresidencyCollins Chabane and Trade and Industry MinisterRob Davies to attend the fifthForum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) in Beijing.[40]
The emergence of China as a power among others gives or offers an opportunity to African countries to be able to free themselves from the shackles that are really colonially designed
- Jacob Zuma, speaking at Tsinghua University, 2014[41]
In December 2014 President Zuma led another delegation of South African government ministers and a 100 representatives of South African business to China[41] representing a further consolidation of warm South African-China relations.[42] From the South African side trade imbalances, China's impact on South African industry, and concerns over China's influence over South Africa's domestic and international affairs remain issues of concern for bilateral relations.[43] In July 2015 South Africa's deputy president,Cyril Ramaphosa, led a trade and economic delegation to China.[44]
In September 2015 President Zuma attended the Chinese70th anniversary celebrations since the end of World War 2.[45] This was closely followed by a visit from, nowGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party,Xi Jinping to Pretoria, South Africa on the 2nd December 2015 where agreements to finalise the China-South Africa 5-10 Year Framework on Cooperation were signed.[46]
The administration ofCyril Ramaphosa saw an expansion of China-South African warm relations with implementation of joint naval exercises with Chinese and Russian naval vessels off the coast ofCape Town in November 2019.[47]
In August 2023, Chinese PresidentXi Jinping visited South Africa for a summit of theBRICS-bloc.[48]
After the post-apartheid establishment of bilateral relations, China began building support form South Africa for the creation of theForum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2000.[2]: 104 During the 2000s, party-to-party exchanges between theChinese Communist Party (CCP) and theAfrican National Congress (ANC) andSouth African Communist Party significantly expanded.[2]: 104 The ANC was one of six African ruling parties that supported the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, which opened in February 2022 in Tanzania, financed by theCentral Party School of the Chinese Communist Party.[49][50][51]
It has been alleged that South Africa's ruling political party, the African National Congress, has received funding for election campaigns from foreign countries particularity for the2009 national elections. Amongst the foreign countries accused of giving money to the ANC is the CCP. Other countries and the ruling political parties and figures accused of giving money to the ANC include theCongress Party ofIndia, theGaddafi administration ofLibya andEquatorial Guinea.[52][53]
In 2014 it was announced that the Chinese Communist Party will support and construct a political training school for South Africa's ruling political party the ANC inVenterskroon.[54] An increasing number of South African government functionaries are being sent to Chinese government schools in Beijing. South Africa plans to send increasing numbers of executives fromSouth African Parastatals to study China's relationship with itsState Owned Enterprises.[5][55][56] A number of analysts such as Patrick Heller,[54] have argued that South Africa's ruling ANC sees the Chinese Communist Party as a model for maintaining control over the country as a de factoOne-party state and/or as an aspect ofanti-Western feeling by South African government elites.[4][5]
TheDalai Lama visited South Africa in 1996, meeting then-presidentNelson Mandela.[57] In March 2009 the Dalai Lama was refused entry to South Africa, officially to keep Tibetan politics from overshadowing the2010 FIFA World Cup.[58][59] The refusal to allow the Dalai Lama to visit South Africa sparked a political debate within South Africa about the country's political and business interests with China, with some accusing the government of "selling out" sovereignty, and others pointing out the negative consequences toChina-French business relations after French presidentNicolas Sarkozy met with the Dalai Lama.[60]
In 2011 the Dalai Lama was invited to attend and give a lecture at the 80th birthday ofDesmond Tutu in October. The Dalai Lama's staff accused the South African government of delaying consideration of his visa application because of Chinese pressure, but the government denied such pressure and counteraccused the Dalai Lama of not submitting any visa applications.[57][61] Three days before Tutu's birthday the Dalai Lama announced that he would not attend the event as he did not expect to be granted a visa. Tutu responded by calling the ANC government "worse than the apartheid government" and suggested that the government should be toppled in the style of theArab Spring.[62] The Dalai Lama joined Tutu on his birthday byvideoconferencing, calling China a country "built on lies" and "run by hypocrites", and implored Tutu to continue inviting him to South Africa to "test [South Africa's] government".[63] Opposition andCOSATU politicians again accused the ANC government of "betraying South Africa's sovereignty and Constitution."[64] Others in South Africa argued that the Dalai Lama's physical nonattendance was ultimately in South Africa's interests, reasoning that "it's easier toSkype in the Dalai Lama than [to find] billions in alternative investments."[65]
Dalai Lama was again unable to enter South Africa when he was invited to attend the Nobel Peace Laureates world summit in October 2014. It is alleged by the mayor of Cape Town that he was asked by national government to withdraw his application for a visa to visit SA for reasons “in the national interest” so as to avoid embarrassment by his visa being officially rejected.[66]
The 2018 visit to South Africa ofPresident in exile of Tibet,Lobsang Sangay, strained relations as the South African government refused Chinese demands to expel Sangay despite threats that the visit might impact Chinese investment into South Africa.[67]
In 2017, theSouth African National Space Agency (SANSA) joined theBRICS space program, of which theChina National Space Administration is also a member.[2]: 303
In 2021, SANSA signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Satellite Network Office to collaborate on satellite navigation and strengthen exchanges.[2]: 303
China built and operates a satellite data receiving station in South Africa.[2]: 303
Chinese South Africans are an ethnic group of Chinese diaspora in South Africa. They and their ancestors immigrated to South Africa beginning during the Dutch colonial era in theCape Colony. Since 2000 an estimated 350,000 Chinese immigrations, most of whom came from mainland China, have settled in South Africa.[68] South Africa has the largest African-born population of Chinese of any country on the continent.[2]: 187
In 2007, the People's Republic of China dispatched two armed teams to break into thePelindaba nuclear research centre to steal technology for apebble bed modular reactor, according to South Africa'sState Security Agency. A guard at the reactor was shot in the chest during the break-in.[69]
In May 2016, the South African Department of Fisheries stated that a total of nine Chinese owned vessels were spotted in South African waters allegedly engaged inillegal fishing. The vessels initially agreed to be escorted into port for inspection but on the way broke up and evaded the escorting South African patrol vessel.[70] The nine vessels were part of a fleet of 28 Chinese trawlers that were accused by local anglers of illegal fishing within 3 kilometers of South African waters allegedly fishing the annualsardine run.[70]
In June 2016 the state owned Chinese locomotive manufacturer,CSR Corporation Limited, was implicated in a 2012 R51 billion (US$6 billion) tender to deliver 600 locomotives to the state ownedPassenger Rail Agency of South Africa.[71][72] It was later reported that the future South African Public ProtectorBusisiwe Mkhwebane was allegedly implicated in the deal when she worked as Counselor Immigration and Civic Services in South Africa's embassy in China.[73][74] By 2020 it was reported that funds allocated to pay for an adjusted contract to deliver the locomotives produced by CSR Corporation, now reformed and renamedCRRC, had been frozen by theSouth African Revenue Service due to possible instances of corruption paid to associates of theGupta family to secure the contract.[75]
China has anextradition treaty with South Africa.[2]: 188
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Membership | |
|---|---|
| Summits | |
| Leaders | |
| Sports | |
| Related | |
