Government backs China’s BRI

GOVERNMENT continues to throw its weight behind infrastructure and development projects initiated by China in Africa, particularly in South Africa.

Parliament House chairperson Cedrick Frolick and Dr Manelisi Genge, chief director of East Asia and Oceania at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, joined Chinese ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian and various stakeholders, to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its importance in Africa.

BRI was established almost six years ago by Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Africa, China’s largest trading partner on the continent, was one of the first African countries to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Asian state.

In his address at a dialogue held at Wits university’s education campus in Parktown on Friday, Frolick said China and South Africa not only shared good relations based on solid trade, but that both countries respected each other politically. He said it was important that whenever development takes place, both states plan and collaborate, adding that this is what informs the success of BRI.

Meanwhile, Lin reminded those gathered that BRI is an initiative that focuses on economic development and seeks to address bottlenecks that restrain development, and does not concern itself with the “politics of a small circle”.

He further highlighted that while the BRI may have begun with China, it was in fact for the benefit of the whole world.

He said he was happy that the AU and its members states had already signed documents on the BRI’s co-operation with China.

Wits vice-chancellor Adam Habib addressed the negative perceptions around China’s investment in Africa, saying it was puzzling that there were those who were suspicious of China’s interests on the continent.

He said the fundamental question was to establish if China’s agenda matched that of South Africa in taking the communities forward.