Chinese Embassy in South Africa Turns On Charm Offensive in View of Visit of Chief Diplomat Wang Yi
On 12 February 2025, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the overseas mission itinerary of its Chief Diplomat Wang Yi. From 14 to 16 February 2025, Minister Wang Yi will attend the Munich Security Conference 2025.
On 17 February 2025, he will be on an official visit to the UK. In the UK, Wang Yi will co-host with his counterpart David Lammy the 11th China-UK Strategic Dialogue. This visit follows right behind the mission to China of UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in January 2025. Then, he will be in Ireland on the 18 February 2025.
As China assumes the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Wang Yi will fly to New York to chair the meeting on 19 February 2025. He will deliver a keynote address at the UNSC meeting around Multilateralism and Global Governance.
Finally, Wang Yi is expected in South Africa where he will attend the #G20 Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Johannesburg from 20 to 21 February 2025. The agenda of the meeting will revolve around Development Finance, #FoodSecurity, and #ClimateChange.
To pave the way for the visit Minister Wang Yi in South Africa, the Chinese Embassy has initiated a charm offensive. Thus, Chinese ambassador Wu Peng tweeted several posts on X to highlight the positive outcomes of the China-South Africa cooperation.
In particular, he highlighted the projects involving Chinese investments such as Hisense Industrial Park, the Palabora Mining Company, and the Samancor Chrome. The HiSense South Africa Industrial Park was set up in Atlantis, Cape Town with an #FDI of USD 119 million with the support of the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund). In South Africa, HiSense (SZSE: 000921, SHSE: 600060, HKSE: 0921) manufactures household appliances for the local market and beyond by taking advantage of the SADC and #AfCFTA. Over 1,000 local jobs have been created so far.
The Palabora Mining Company (PMC) is a subsidiary of Hebei Iron & Steel (HBIS) Group (SZSE: 000709) and is involved in the extraction and refining of copper. So far, the total Chinese investment amounted to USD 738 million. The project is sustaining some 7,000 jobs in Limpopo province.
Similarly, Samancor Chrome Holdings (SCH), a JV between TISCO and SinoSteel, has emerged as one of the world’s largest integrated operations for ferrochrome. Other than extraction, Samancor also operates smelters in Mokopane and Tubatse. The project required a cumulative investment of USD 826 million and has provided over 12,000 local job opportunities.
During the last FOCAC Summit 2024 (#FOCAC2024), Samancor Chrome and various partners signed an agreement to build a 100 MW PV farm to power its smelter in Tubatse. The investment is in line with the Green Mining Initiative of the company which seeks to reduce its carbon footprint. CADFund and China Construction Bank (CCB) are the financiers of the solar farm project.
Recently, US State Secretary Marco Rubio has declared that the US will not attend the G20 Summit 2025 (#G20Summit2025) which will be held in South Africa in November this year. He pointed to the newly enacted South African ‘Expropriation Law’ as the reason for the boycott.
The US is also pressuring South Africa to get out of #BRICS by threatening higher tariffs and cutting all humanitarian aid, but the South Africa Minister of Minerals Gwede Mantashe responded by threatening to suspend the export of #CriticalMinerals to the US.
Thus, the visit of Wang Yi occurs in a particular context of souring relations between South Africa and the US. It will be most interesting to take stock of where the wind blows after the flurry of geopolitical maneuvers and diplomatic dancing.