By Dr Emmanuel Matambo (PPRIZ Research Fellow)
South Africa-China relations were stablished in 1998, almost four years after the last apartheid government left power. Since then, China has become South Africa’s biggest trading partner with relations between the two countries further fortified through intersecting membership of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and BRICS. The mapping project done for South Africa sought to explore ways through which China seeks to enhance and entrench its image in South Africa. While acknowledging the more obvious economic relationship between the two countries, the mapping project looked at a three-pronged approach of China to South Africa through the political, media and academic domains.
The main finding of the political approach is that China’s relationship with the ANC government is assured. The two parties need each other for diplomatic support (they have sung from the same hymnal on issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and the efforts of the developing world to reform the United Nations Security Council) and, on South Africa’s part mostly, economic and technological needs. However, China has also noted that South Africa’s system – which is an open democracy – impels foreign players in South Africa to insure that their presence and interests remain unabated should there be a change of government. To this effect, the political demarches that China has wrought in South Africa have been broadened to include opposition political parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and ActionSA. This is political realism on the part of China, as there has been a sense of electoral foreboding regarding the ANC’s dwindling share of votes, which many expect might diminish even further in 2024. Thus, should the ANC be forced into coalition governance or squander power, while other promising parties – the ones China is courting – come into prominence and influence, China would reap the fruits of its political cultivation.
For its influence in creating images and shaping narratives, the media is a crucial component to China. Through Independent Media, African Times, the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Chinese diplomats, multinational corporations and South African of Chinese extraction can reach wide audiences with messages that are typically amenable to China and present the country as South Africa’s dependable partner. In addition, CGTN has head hunted some South African journalists who are predictably expected to present stories about China that enhance the country’s image and its relationship with South Africa.
Finally, China has realized how important institutions of learning and academics are in shaping popular knowledge and influencing policy. South African academics have been offered help – through publication costs, paid consultancies and scholarships. Naturally, these beneficiaries have felt compelled to toe China’s line on South Africa-China relations, even about China’s posture in the international system.
The mapping project concluded that the political dimension of China’s approach to South Africa has been successful, as demonstrated in the exponential growth of trade volumes between the two countries, South Africa’s defense of China’s technologies being exported to South Africa, and China’s crucial role in including South Africa (circa 2009) in what was called BRIC. Regarding the media, China’s effectiveness has been limited as the media platforms it uses do not penetrate the majority of South Africans. In terms of academia, an argument could be made that South African academics have indubitably benefited in monetary terms and travel, but that they have seldom bought into China’s worldview.