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SA and China ‘upgrade’ relations — is it more than mere rhetoric?

SA and China ‘upgrade’ relations — is it more than mere rhetoric?
President Ramaphosa and his South African delegation during the talks leading to the announcement or the All-Round Strategic Cooperative Partnership in a New Era. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)
Peter Fabricius
By Peter Fabricius
2 Sep 2024
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The upgraded partnership will be ‘underpinned by strong political ties and focused on a prosperous future with balanced trade and accelerated transformative economic growth’.

President Cyril Ramaphosa conducted a state visit to China on Monday during which he and Chinese President Xi Jinping upgraded SA-China relations from a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” to an “All-Round Strategic Cooperative Partnership in a New Era”. Was this mere rhetoric or did it have concrete implications? 

Beijing is good at such elaborate diplomatic language and a joint statement by the two governments did not explain the concrete difference between the old and new partnerships. But it hinted that Xi had responded positively to Ramaphosa’s plea for more balance in the highly skewed trade relationship between the two countries.

south africa china relations ramaphosa xi South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China move past a guard of honour at the welcoming ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo: Katlholo Maifadi / Dirco)



It said the upgraded partnership would be “underpinned by strong political ties and focused on a prosperous future with balanced trade and accelerated transformative economic growth”.

In 2023, South Africa had a huge trade deficit of almost R180-billion with China, importing R404.4-billion of goods and exporting goods worth R226.5-billion. Unlike its trade relations with the European Union and the US, which are more balanced, SA largely exports raw materials to China and imports mostly manufactured products, which accounts for the big deficits.

However, the statement said the two governments had agreed to work together to “expand economic and trade ties by improving the current trade structure, increasing market access and the export of value-added goods from South Africa”.

south africa china relations ramaphosa President Ramaphosa and his South African delegation during the talks leading to the announcement of the All-Round Strategic Cooperative Partnership in a New Era. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)



The two governments encouraged their business communities to increase investments both ways and to establish manufacturing plants near sources of raw materials to enable the transfer of skills technology and job creation.

This meant, in effect, that China agreed, at least in principle, to lift barriers to the imports of agricultural and other products from SA and to invest more in the beneficiation — the adding of value — to SA minerals and other raw materials rather than simply importing them in their raw state.

Beyond rhetoric


Cobus van Staden, the managing editor at the China-Global South Project, said although it was hard to say what the upgrading of the SA-China relationship would mean concretely, he thought it was “more than rhetoric. It re-emphasises the centrality of South Africa in China’s larger relations with the continent.”

That wider relationship with the continent will be discussed later this week when Xi hosts Ramaphosa and many other African leaders at the summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing.

Van Staden said rumours had circulated last year that China might be cooling its relationship with South Africa, but the upgrading of the relationship disproved that.

“In relation to balancing trade, I think there’s been a lot of push from the South African side. What is interesting is that South Africa doesn’t necessarily always have a trade deficit with China. It depends a little bit on the particular year. 

“But it does show a determination on the South African side to increase not only the amount of trade, but also to upgrade the trade up the value chain.”

He noted that much of that, particularly the beneficiation of minerals, would depend on South African initiatives, including guaranteeing the supply of electricity, to attract Chinese investments. 

Van Staden noted that SA was increasing its agricultural exports to China and wanted to move those up the value chain. It would be interesting, he said, to see whether China made any agricultural and agri-tech deals with SA and other African countries this week, as other African governments had been pushing hard for that.

Read more: What agricultural message should African leaders take to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation?

UN Security Council


In their statement, SA and China demanded “a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the Council’s memberships…”

The statement specifically supported the aspirations of Brazil, India and South Africa “to play a greater role in international affairs, in particular in the United Nations, including its Security Council”.

Brazil, India and South Africa are partners with China and Russia in the BRICS Forum. China and Russia have permanent seats on the UN Security Council, which the other three BRICS members aspire to. The SA-China statement on Monday was typical in expressing China’s support for SA’s aspiration to have a greater say in the Security Council while stopping short of explicitly endorsing any increase in the number of permanent seats.

However, Van Staden suggested that China had been making noises about increasing African representation on the UN Security Council to bypass India’s push for a permanent seat.

He attributed this to the tense relationship between China and India because of their border disputes.

“I think they’re much more likely to push for an African membership,” he said.

Taking sides?


On the security front, the SA-China statement said: “South Africa welcomed China’s role as a leader on the international stage and acknowledged that China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) are aimed at improving global peace and security, promoting socioeconomic development, and contributing to the reform of global governance.”

China’s GSI is viewed by some in the West as a challenge to what Beijing regards as Western dominance of the global security system. However, Van Staden said he did not believe that Ramaphosa’s support for the GSI  indicated that SA was taking sides in the polarising geopolitical stand-off between China and the West.

He said an acknowledgement of the GSI, the GDI, GCI and the Belt and Road Initiative were increasingly becoming standard language in these sorts of big agreements. 

“I don’t think it necessarily indicates that South Africa has chosen sides. I think that South Africa faces both towards the West and towards China in this respect. I think this is more diplomatic language … rather than a conclusive indication of a strategic direction.

“Overall, I think South Africa would want to be seen to be working with everyone, but of course the recent military exercises with China and Russia, on the Western side tend to strengthen the perception that South Africa is choosing sides,” Van Staden said, referring to the joint naval exercise which SA held with Russia and China in February 2023 on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which angered many Western countries.

As has the training of Chinese military pilots at a private aviation academy in Oudtshoorn. DM

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