Strategicplanning

China-south Africa exchange program to benefit the youth

When Zhang Qiaowen came to south Africa to pursue her PH.D. at Stellenbosch University in 2014, she never thought that it would be so difficult to say goodbye.

“I went to South Africa as a stranger,” she said. “I left three years later as an admirer of this great nation.”

To give back to the country that embraced her, Zhang now helps support four schoolchildren through the Imibala Trust, a South African NGO working with school-age children from disadvantaged communities.

But she wants to do more to empower these young people after they finish their schooling. “Every time we met and talked, I could feel their strong desire to continue their education and change their lives,” said Zhang, now a lecturer at the Zhejiang Normal University in east China.

This led Zhang and her friends to set up the Chinaafrica Bridge, a cross-border e-commerce platform helping link young African entrepreneurs with their Chinese counterparts. With the participation of Chinese companies, logistics support and banking services, it will come into service in the near future.

On the other side of the coin is 29-year-old South African Kamogotsitse Bosielo. He didn’t know what to expect when he arrived in Beijing to pursue his master’s degree in international relations in 2013.

His stay in China proved to be a great help in his career development, he said. He found opportunities to experience Chinese culture and learn Mandarin Chinese before returning home.

Bosielo now works at Huawei Technologies South Africa as a manager responsible for business development and client relations management. Huawei is a world leading information communications technology (ICT) company based in China,

“Exchanges among people for enhanced mutual understanding are the basis for cooperation in all aspects between the two countries,” said Zhang. “That’s why people-to-people connectivity is an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative.” provinces and cities, and the launch of South Africa Year in China in 2014 and China Year in South Africa in 2015.

To further promote exchanges among their peoples, the two governments recently launched the Chinasouth Africa High Level People-to-people Exchange Mechanism (PPEM).

Inaugurated on April 24 in South Africa, the PPEM seeks to deepen mutual understanding and enhance exchanges and cooperation, especially in the areas of culture, education, communications, health, science and technology, sports, tourism, and women and youth affairs.

South Africa is the first African country to launch PPEM with China. A strategic decision made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma, it is also part of the follow-up actions to implement the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in South Africa in December 2015.

China-south Africa relations have witnessed rapid growth since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1998. “In the growth process, achievements in bilateral pragmatic cooperation have been fruitful,” said Vice Premier Liu Yandong at the PPEM launch ceremony.