Springs: We are standing in what used to be a warehouse facility until a few months ago. It received imported motor components and distributed these in South Africa. From January 2013, this warehousing facility will be converted into a manufacturing facility – a taxi assembly plant, employing 470 people. This is a concrete step towards government’s programme to reindustrialise South Africa and to move it away from a trajectory it had been on for some time – that is, an ever-increasing reliance on imports of manufactured goods, with the export principally of raw materials, resulting in South Africa losing a significant part of its manufacturing base.
In recent years, the People’s Republic of China is not only the source of a large number of the world’s international migrants but increasingly a destination for labour migrants, including sub-Saharan Africans. The main factors behind this emerging migratory phenomenon are both China’s continuing economic growth and its increasing political and diplomatic linkages with African countries. In this framework, migrants seem to play a crucial role in the emerging Sino-African trade system (Fowale, 2008; Skeldon, 2011; Østbø Haugen, 2012).
Juba: A few months before South Sudan seceded last year, Henry Odwar drove to a Juba hotel to confront the men who would be at the heart of the new country's economy. Scores of delegates from the Chinese, Malaysian and Indian firms that pumped Sudan's oil had flown in to see the southern capital and shake hands with the government officials who were about to inherit billions of dollars of petroleum from Khartoum in the north.
Beijing: China wants its blossoming relationship with Africa to be long-lasting and the ruling Communist Party’s incoming leadership is committed to supporting the African Union, senior Chinese officials said on Wednesday. "What I want to stress is that establishing co-operation and friendship with Africa is an important cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy for the long term," said Zhai Jun, foreign affairs vice-minister for Africa. "Over the years, China and Africa have learnt to trust each other," he said, speaking on the eve of the party’s 18th congress.
Luanda: Almost half of Angola’s exports are destined for China, whilst sales to other large trading partners, such as the United States and France, continue to lose ground, according to Portuguese bank BPI. In the first half of last year China accounted for around 35 percent of Angola’s exports, but this year that percentage rose to 49 percent, with almost all the other trading partners losing ground, according to figures from Angola’s National Statistics Institute (INE) quoted by BPI.
Johannesburg: The relationship between China and Africa is a compellingly interesting one. It has grown at breathtaking speed since the start of this millennium and both partners are richer because of it. Yet the party with most at stake, Africa - which is a loose coalition of 50-plus nations rather than the single entity which the African Union (AU) aspires to become - is behaving as though nothing is fundamentally changing. If there is going to be any significant shift in the status quo because of China’s entry onto the scene, it will almost certainly be for the better, this laid-back view would have us believe.
Beijing: China will take stern measures against its citizens who engage in unruly behaviour in Zimbabwe and other African countries, an official has said. Department of African Affairs director-general Lu Shaye yesterday said the behaviour of some Chinese abroad was tarnishing the country's image.
Harare: Zimbabweans providing cheap labour in the fast-growing Chinese mines bear the brunt of extremely harsh conditions and low wages, a Johannesburg-based advocacy group, Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) reveals in its research, the first such report detailing China's labour practices in the country.
Lagos: Following the security challenges in the country and its implications to the nation's economy, the Goods Made-in-China Importers Association (GMIA) has called for proper safety measures to protect the lives of Chinese nationals from terror attacks because of their contribution to the creation of over 35 million jobs in Nigeria. Secretary of the group, Chief Udoka Charles Udeogaranya, in a statement yesterday, said: "Though, Chinese nationals are not specifically targeted in the terror attack, President Goodluck Jonathan and the Federal Government should put up more efforts in safeguarding Chinese nationals in Nigeria."
Gaborone: The governments of Botswana and China yesterday launched a Joint Consultative Forum to monitor the implementation of bilateral programmes between the two countries. The high level forum will meet quarterly to exchange ideas and share information on progress on their joint projects.
