On November 3, 2023, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with South Africa's Deputy President, Paul Shipokosa Mashatile, in Beijing and co-chaired the eighth plenary session of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission.
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Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, will host his counterpart from the People’s Republic of China, Vice President Han Zheng, at Tuynhuys, Cape Town, on Thursday as they co-chair the 9th South Africa-China Bi-National Commission (BNC).
The BNC, which will take place under the theme: "South Africa-China Relations in an Era of Global Transformation: Advancing Shared Modernisation", was established in 2000 at the Deputy Presidential level as the highest-structured bilateral mechanism for consolidating diplomatic, economic, and sectoral cooperation between the two nations.
Other bilateral structured mechanisms with China include the Strategic Dialogue (SD) at the Ministerial level of DIRCO, the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETC) at the Minister of Trade level, the People-to-People Exchange Mechanism (PPEM) at the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture level, and the Joint Working Group at the Deputy Ministerial level of DIRCO.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said that the context of this bilateral meeting with the Chinese is important for South Africa as China has become a global economic player, more than the US, in Africa.
“The relationship between our engagement with the West has actually been exploitative.”
Seepe said that while China may also be invested in the country's minerals, 'they don’t talk in the language of a coloniser'.
“It talks in the language of development, and it has committed quite a lot in terms of development, more than Western countries,” Seepe said.
“If you look at the countries that were under French colonialism. They have not moved an inch, and if you look at the US as well as Europe, its approach to Africa has been to extract as much (as possible), and Africa has never benefited immensely from our relationship with the West.
“The East is saying, 'We come in as friends. We have an interest, but you also have an interest, and so let's see if there could be any conversions of a mutual benefit',” Seepe said.
Political analyst, Professor Dirk Kotzé, added that the country’s relationship with China is primarily economical as opposed to political, military or scientific in nature.
“Trade and other forms of economic relations are the primary focus of it. Therefore, it indicates that in terms of the program, it'll focus primarily on trade and economic relations, which is very important for South Africa,” Kotzé said.
“This is going to be an important event for both South Africa and China. China regularly hosts an event which is called the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which is a meeting with African leaders in general, not only South Africa. This is a bilateral meeting just between the two countries.”