China's Relationship With South Africa Is More Complex Than It May Seem

South Africa’s relationship with China has undergone a profound transformation in a remarkably short period of time. In less than 20 years, the countries have gone from barely acknowledging one another to developing a deep partnership that transcends economics, politics and ideology.

Pretoria’s recent public backing of Beijing’s position in the bitter territorial dispute in the South China Sea highlights how these two countries have widened their engagement with one another, far beyond that of any other African country. Economically, South Africa is among the top destinations for Chinese investment in Africa . Politically, the two countries are now more aligned than ever on sensitive issues like internet freedom , international justice  and even the Dalai Lama .

China’s ties with South Africa now even extend beyond the state level to an increasingly close embrace between the countries’ two ruling parties, the African National Congress , or ANC, and the Chinese Communist Party , or CCP. The ANC and the CCP now have a parallel engagement track that is seemingly entirely separate from that of the day-to-day state-led diplomacy between the two countries. In many ways, the ANC appears to be modeling itself after the CCP, particularly how the CCP has fused together state and party power as a means of ensuring indefinite political dominance.

Alison Bradley is a China specialist and South African native who recently published a paper in the Journal of Contemporary China on the state of Sino-South African ties. In her analysis “China and South Africa: Emerging Powers in an Uncomfortable Embrace ,” Alison argues that on the surface things may look tight between the Chinese and South Africans, but dig a little deeper, and the situation is much more complicated. Alison joins Eric & Cobus in the podcast above to discuss why China’s engagement in South Africa is amongst the most varied and complex of any of its ties in Africa.

Join the discussion. What do you think of South Africa’s full-on embrace of both Chinese politics and the CCP’s ideological model?

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Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque

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