Chen Xiadong was speaking at a webinar hosted by the National Press Club on the third volume by Xi Jinping on the governance of China and the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Introducing the envoy, Press Club  chairperson Val Boje refers to China as an important global force and friend of Africa and South Africa that had lifted 1,4 billion people out of poverty.

Ambassador Chen says Chairman Xi’s book covers  reform, development, stability, the state, foreign affairs and defence matters.

Xi talks about promoting win win cooperation with all countries including South Africa and rest of Africa to achieve a prosperous common future for all mankind.

China has since 1953 drawn up and implemented five year plans. It currently has identified and is working on medium term objectives up until the year 2035.

Chen says  China has become the major trading partner of 138 countries  by observing an approach of people first, leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, new paradigms, shared property and government proficiency.

As it grows, China presents greater opportunities to countries doing business with it.

“China’s door is opening and it will open even wider,” he says.

“In ten years, China has imported goods worth more than $22 trillion.”

CODID has taken the world by surprise.China is the first country to have overcome it and restored economic growth.

It has sent medical terms to 32 countries providing care, expertise, medicine and personal protection equipment.

“We are developing a vaccine and countries of Africa will be the first to benefit from it, “he says.

Chen says China has a special bond with South Africa. Chairman Xi has made three state visits to South Africa.

South Africa plans an important role in the Forum for China Africa Cooperation which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The webinar heard that China plans to strengthen exchanges and its shared future with Africa.

This will encompass a China-Africa community of health for all  as envisaged the the extraordinary China-Africa summit on COVID 19.

Common development will cover 5G communications, the digital economy, smart cities and clean and health environment.

“Chairman Xi says having clear water and green mountains is as valuable as having mountains of gold and silver,” says Chen.

Working for a shared ,prosperous future for all mankind, China will relieve pressure on African countries’ debt repayments as they battle to recover economically from the pandemic.

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Ramaphosa told a media briefing at the union Buildings that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had told him prospective Chinese visitors were being kept away by the South Africa’s visa architecture.

It reliably estimated that South African visa restrictions have cost the country half a billion dollars in lost tourism and business visits.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says he can’t confirm this figure although he acknowledges substantial losses caused by the visa regime.

He says changes to the requirement for children to have unabridged births certificates will be announced in coming weeks among measures welcoming highly skilled people and potential investors  to South Africa.

He says a pilot electronic visa mechanism will also be implemented. 

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Having infamously scrambled for the continent 120 years ago, Western leaders are today seeking to dance here.

British Premier Theresa May twice skipped the light fantastic during her three-nation safari.

She danced her robot mash with Cape Town schoolchildren and with boy scouts and girl guides in Nairobi.

French President Emmanuel Macron boogied with musician Femi Kuti at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos last July.

Neither posed any immediate threat to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

But it showed the lengths they were prepared to go to make friends in Africa.

May was in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. She sought to reassure the African heavy hitters that Brexit will not affect their economic ties with Britain.

Macron’s visit was billed as more culture than policy.

But his return to Lagos, where he spent six months as an intern in 2002, was obvious.  He wishes to keep the lines of communication in good order.

Angela Merkel was also in  Africa in the last week of August. She did not pack her dancing pumps for Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.

Her preoccupation was securing deals with her hosts curbing the stream of irregular migrants from African into Europe.

All  these leaders mentioned Africa’s enviable economic growth and the market potential presented by its growing young population.

But they dared no raise hopes either at home or at their African destinations.

There is a new player in the modern scramble for Africa – and it is one that dwarfs them.

China’s dominance of the African market will be demonstrated at the Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Meeting in  Beijing, it is expected to feature a number of eye-watering offers from China to help Africa’s infrastructure deficit.

At the previous FOCAC in Johannesburg, this amounted to $60 billion.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has recently embarked on his own safari.

He stopped  Senegal and Rwanda before arriving in South Africa for the BRICS summit. Then he visited Mauritius on the way home.

China’s belt and road programme, designed to give Beijing better access to foreign markets, dominated.

Africa, providing strategic resources, played a major part in transforming China to the world’s second largest economy.

It does business differently from Africa’s traditional partners.

It does not impose values like observation of human rights and rule of law.

It provides credit freely. Approaching $100 billion dollars has been loaned by China for building African roads, railways, ports and major buildings.

Critics say Beijing’s constructing an elaborate death trap.

Beijing responds that the critics are none other than the former colonialists, who have an axe to grind.

Who can blame cash-strapped countries being attracted to China’s credit honey pot.

South Africa is among the latest, taking a $2,5 billion loan for ESCOM.

All above board and properly thought out, is the assurance from President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Question: could that loan have been secured safely and on better terms  from the more rhythmic recent visitors? 

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The five-nation body, that includes South Africa, has also united startlingly against international terror groups.

President Xi Jinping opened the second BRICS summit China’s hosting with a call for members to shelve differences.

He and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi set the example with smiled and handshakes after a recent border dispute in the plateau known as Donglang or Doklam, depending on which side of the border one finds oneself

China’s shelves plans to increase the size of BRICS because of resistance by members to Beijing bringing friendly neighbours into the grouping struggling to retain the economic power it enjoyed when it was formed 15 years ago.

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His six-day safari has included  Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Minister Wang Yi has followed five predecessors who visited Africa during their first foreign trip each year.

After seeing Wang yesterday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama ordered Taiwan to move its trade mission from the capital, Abuja, to the commercial hub, Lagos.

China pledged to invest $40 billion into infrastructure in Africa’s most populous country.

Wang says China will actively practice the values of friendship, justice and shared interests proposed by President Xi Jinping and aid African countries to seek independent and sustainable development

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However the Goa Declaration issued after the gathering of five emerging powers including South Africa  did not mention cross-border terrorism mainly due to China’s resistance

The theme was terrorism all the way at the BRICS summit meeting in Goa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the forum to keep up his attack on Pakistan after a border dispute.

Modi’s using  multilateral forums to lash out at Pakistan for supporting terrorism.

He insisted there was unanimity within BRICS on the issue of terrorism.

But the Chinese articulation was more muted. Speaking during the plenary session, President Xi Jinping said it was imperative to step up coordination on major international issues, regional hotspots and find a political solution to these.

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British premier Theresa May is having a tough time at the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Today she has explain to the host Xi Jinpen why she delayed a $24-billion nuclear power plant China was planning to invest in.

ends intro

What’s happening on the sidelines of the G20 summit still dominate the headlines.

The US and Russia will sit down today and make another bid to end the fighting in Syria and allow humanitarian access to its suffering population.

China staged a spectacular opening ceremony with President Xi Jinping urging countries to avoid empty talk as they look to spur economic growth.

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President Jacob Zuma will join President Xi Jinping and world leader like Barak Obama, Theresa May and Angela Merkel as China hosts this auspicious gathering for the first time.

ends intro

Hangzhou’s residents are delighted at the root and branch uplift of their city they say will benefit them for years to come.

They’ve done their best responding to officials, who’re calling this paradise on earth and urged them to rid it of  flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes and rodents.

In this pest-free environment, the G20 leaders will talk about innovation as the new driving force for the world economy.

They’ll cast their powerful grouping as the engine for sustainable global development.

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