On the sidelines of the 20th G20 Summit held Nov 22-23, 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile to talk about leveling up their strategic partnership 🤝.
Li highlighted that China and South Africa are “good friends and brothers” and are ready to boost mutual political trust, support each other, and deepen cooperation across tech, green energy, healthcare, digital economy, infrastructure, and more. He also mentioned building on last September’s Beijing meeting between President Xi Jinping and Cyril Ramaphosa to drive new outcomes in their all-round strategic cooperative partnership.
Key moves on the table: negotiating an economic partnership deal for shared development, fast-tracking China’s zero-tariff treatment on 100% of tariff lines for African diplomatic partners, and helping cool South African exports enter the Chinese market. China is also keen to encourage its top companies to invest in South Africa’s key sectors, from new energy vehicles to smart healthcare.
They also pledged to strengthen communication within frameworks like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to carry summit outcomes into real-world wins for both nations and the wider continent.
Mashatile thanked China for its support as G20 host and reiterated South Africa’s firm one-China policy. He sees China’s zero-tariff plan as a golden chance to ramp up trade, industry, agriculture, digital economy, and green growth. Plus, he gave a thumbs up 👍 to four global initiatives from President Xi, underlining the duo’s commitment to multilateralism, a stronger United Nations, and shared prosperity across the Global South.
With both sides pledging to safeguard each other’s businesses and citizens, China-South Africa cooperation looks set for a fresh wave of projects and partnerships that could shape the future of the Global South 🌍🚀.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
