By Rachel Mohamed
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit (FOCAC) which kicked off on Monday and will run until Thursday, September 5th.
This visit seeks to strengthen bilateral ties between China and South Africa attempting to narrow the nation’s trade deficit with the Asian state to better economic circumstances for the nations.
Speaking on VOC News Beat Dr. Oscar van Heerden, a scholar of international relations, focuses on international political economy, with an emphasis on Africa, and SADC.
“As you know South Africa is the number one trader of China in Africa and we are an important trading partner, and we are up to the market in terms of fresh produce and raw materials of coal.”
He further highlighted how China is a “humongous” market with the South African delegation trying to have equal input in terms of import and export. But he is of the view that “it is a bit astute and in favour of the Chinese because they have so much money with their purchasing power being bigger than SA.”
Van Heerden further emphasized the importance of this visit outlining why the president took some ministers to accompany him as the tour deals with issues such as investment into infrastructure with water and energy.
Listen more for the full interview below:
VOC News
Photo: South African Government/X
