Chinese-Funded Enterprises Strengthen Ties with South Africa through Corporate Social Responsibility

Your Excellency Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile,

Your Excellency Ambassador Zodwa Lallie,

Acting Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

Good morning!

It’s my great pleasure to attend today’s launch ceremony of the Corporate Social Responsibility Report of Chinese-Funded Enterprises in South Africa. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, allow me to express my warm congratulations on today’s ceremony, and pay high tribute to all Chinese enterprises for actively fulfilling their social responsibilities and serving local development.

I also want to express my sincere gratitude to friends from all walks of life who care for and support the development of China-South Africa economic and trade cooperation, as well as bilateral relations.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Report of Chinese-Funded Enterprises in South Africa, officially launched today, is the second edition following the first release in 2018.

This report highlights the substantial contributions made by Chinese-funded enterprises to boost South Africa’s development, improve people’s livelihoods, protect the environment and support various sectors.

It’s a great demonstration of how Chinese enterprises faithfully implement the principle of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith, and take the right approach to friendship and interests, as proposed by President Xi Jinping.

The South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association (SACETA), which compiles the reports, is a non-profit entity set up voluntarily by Chinese-funded enterprises in South Africa.

I remember shortly after my arrival in South Africa in June, when I first met with SACETA, I asked colleagues to speed up in releasing today’s second report. Not to take credit for myself, but they finished the whole thing in less than 5 months! It just shows you what Chinese companies can do and deliver.

This has been done not for the sake of publicity, but to show that besides doing business, Chinese companies are here to also contribute to South Africa’s society according to local needs.

Let us applaud for the contributions of Chinese enterprises and the hard work of SACETA!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, Our companies cannot contribute this much to South Africa without the overall strong bilateral economic and trade cooperation between our two countries. South Africa is the first African country to sign the Belt and Road cooperation document with China, as well as China’s most important investment destinations on the African continent. The economic and trade structures of our two countries are highly complementary.

Our trade and investment cooperation brings strong mutual benefit.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of Chinese enterprises to invest in South Africa.

To date, more than 200 Chinese enterprises are doing business in South Africa, investing over 10 billion US dollars in various sectors such as mining, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, finance, and communications.

As Chinese firms enjoyed sound development themselves, they also created massive local jobs and tax revenues for the South African economy.

I would like to share with you several examples that highlight the positive contributions made by Chinese enterprises in South Africa.

The Samancor Chrome Project by China Steel Corporation, produces 2.4 million tons of ferrochrome annually, creating 12,000 jobs and 99.5% of their employees are locals. The FAW South Africa factory in Coega Industrial Park is the largest and advanced truck production facility in Southern Africa. This factory contributes an average of 500 million rand to local taxes each year.

The Longyuan De Aar Wind farm by the China Energy Investment Group is South Africa’s largest operational wind farm. Each year, this farm alone supplies some 760 million kilowatt-hours of stable and clean electricity to South Africa. These are just a few examples among many more, which demonstrate not only the practical outcomes of China-South Africa cooperation, but also Chinese enterprises’ sincere support for South Africa’s economic and social development.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, Following their meeting in Johannesburg last August, President Xi Jinping and President Ramaphosa had a great meeting once again in Beijing this year, which saw China-South Africa relations elevated to an All-Round Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the New Era and our practical cooperation enjoying stronger momentum.

I am confident that Chinese companies in South Africa will seize this opportunity to expand cooperation in critical areas such as infrastructure, new energy, and mineral processing.

Together, China and South Africa can further unlock market potential and ensure that our practical cooperation will yield more “golden fruits”. I am convinced that in the future, more and more Chinese enterprises will come to South Africa, invest in South Africa, and build for South Africa, bringing more benefits to the two countries and two peoples.

The Chinese Embassy in South Africa will continue to serve, build and maintain the development of bilateral relations, and work with the Chinese-funded enterprises in South Africa to write a new chapter of a better future for our two countries and two peoples.

I thank you.

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