South African ambassador expects deepening cooperation with China within FOCAC framework

South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele is looking forward to South Africa and China continuing to work together and solving international issues within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

As the southernmost country of Africa, South Africa is the second largest economy on the continent and a member of the BRICS.

The ambassador said that South Africa shares similar views with China on multilateral framework to tackle global issues and build a peaceful world.

“China and Africa, particularly my country and the African continent as a whole, we share similar views. We prefer peace and development to war. Because we know you cannot have sustainable development under the conditions of conflicts,” the ambassador said.

In 2023, China-South Africa trade volume reached 55.6 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about one fifth of China’s total trade with the continent. China has remained South Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, while South Africa has been China’s largest trading partner in Africa for 14 consecutive years.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1998, China and South Africa have enjoyed close high-level exchanges, firm mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns, and close cooperation in international affairs.

“The issue of development is very important. We have made some certain successes. You, for instance, in terms of making advances in achieving what is called United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. You have defeated extreme poverty. You have extracted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty. It is a concern not only of developing countries like African countries, but even developed countries, because poverty exists everywhere,” he said.

“We are also facing things like climate change. We are developing countries. We’re having a lot of pressure from developed countries who cause most harm in terms of carbon emissions. But we South Africa and China, for instance, were accelerating the new energy development in our countries. The roll out of new energy in South Africa is phenomenal, particularly in the last two or three years. China has been the leader globally in terms of rolling out these new technologies and also making sure that they share these technologies at an affordable price with the global community,” the ambassador said.

South Africa is also the first African country to sign a Belt and Road cooperation memorandum of understanding with China in 2015.

The FOCAC summit will be held from September 4 to 6 under the theme “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future.”