South Africa seen through Chinese eyes
ATTENDING conferences, where academics and members of civil society make presentations often gives one an insight to the thinking and practices in vogue. In the field of international relations this is important because often this constituency influences foreign policy.
The BOYA Conference on China-Africa Relations: Retrospect and Prospect, hosted by one of China’s leading institutions, Peking University, was such an occasion and a presentation was done specifically on South Africa.
Titled: “President Ramaphosa and South Africa’s Challenges in Governance”, the presentation by a leading Chinese foreign relations expert gives us, as South Africans, insight into what the Chinese think about us and how Chinese foreign policy towards South Africa is shaped.
For this Chinese expert, the South African political landscape has certainly been marked by a decline in the ANC’s popularity, due to internal squabbles, corruption, a dip in the GDP growth rate and a messy state of governance.
Corruption, she suggested, was threatening stability and economic growth, and she went on to point out the specific cases of Nkandlagate, the Guptas, state capture, the size of the Cabinet and the challenges at the National Treasury.
Ramaphosa, she suggested, was coming in to safeguard unity, cohesion and reach political consensus while wanting to bring in people who were professional and capable. He has made fighting corruption his focus and cleaning up state-owned enterprises was a key area where this fight began.
Yet it was also the president’s strong emphasis on the economy that drew her attention. In his pursuit of a stable business environment, mitigating tensions between employers and employees and attracting foreign direct investment, he has sought to recover economic growth.
Interestingly, the question of the expropriation of land without compensation was also mentioned in the presentation. The professor assured the conference that the process would happen within a constitutional framework, and that there would be minimal disruption to food security.
She went on to cite the 139 farms identified as pilot projects and assured the audience that after studying the case studies of land reform in Zimbabwe and Namibia, the South African one was much more reasonable and mature in its approach.
However, she did note the decisions and lobbying by Afriforum as well as the possible interference by the US in respect of the land question.
The peaceful and seamless transition from the presidency of former president Jacob Zuma to Ramaphosa was good for international, and especially Chinese, confidence in South Africa’s political system.
It is good to stop and listen to what others around the globe are saying and thinking about us. What we hear is not always pleasing, yet what is important is that we realise that the world is watching us. We may differ with their interpretation, but they determine how they act towards us.