WESLEY SEALE
If China has an ivy league, then Peking University, or Beida as it is commonly known, would be in that league.
As can be expected then, Beida has a formidable team in African studies.
A number of notable Chinese-African experts have played an integral role in ensuring that the Centre for African Studies of Peking University (PKUCAS) shapes the international relations outlook taught and researched at this top Chinese university.
One had the good fortune of interacting and sitting under the tutelage of people like Yang Lihua, Liu Haifang and Li Anshan.
The former two taking a more contemporary study of China-Africa-South Africa relations whereas the latter looking at the ancient ties between the continent and country.
This week South Africa will welcome an alumnus of Beida and in particular its international relations studies program.
Ma Zhaoxu, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, will be representing his country at the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting to be held this week in Cape Town.
There should be little doubt that Ma Zhaoxu would have had engaged in PKUCAS during his time at Beida.
In the history of BRICS, these foreign ministers’ meetings have become integral and instrumental as it was Wang Yi, China’s then foreign minister, together with the other foreign ministers of other BRIC countries at the time, excluding South Africa, who had the first meeting of the bloc on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2006.
Also present at this meeting in Cape Town this week will be the Friends of BRICS. Therefore, the five BRICS nations will be joined by representatives of ten other countries to discuss and prepare for the BRICS Summit to be held later in this year.
Many South Africans have asked what advantages BRICS holds for our country and whether South Africa should be doing more to reap the benefits of belonging to the bloc. While only 17 percent of our country’s exports are to fellow BRICS countries, nearly a third, or 29 percent, of our imports come from fellow BRICS countries.
So yes, South Africa still has a far way to go to make sure that BRICS works for it.
Yet there should be little doubt that while other countries have unilateral or one-way programs towards Africa and South Africa, BRICS partners are prepared to enter into agreements with Africa and South Africa which are mutually beneficial.
In this respect, we must be able to look to Ma Zhaoxu to ensure that China continues on the pro-African and pro-partnership trajectory that his country has been on.
For example, at the recent Africa Day reception, China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang, was emphatic that “when brothers are of one heart and one mind, they have the strength to break metal.”
Qin Gang recalled the long-standing history between our continent and his country. He asserted that Africa and China must continue to work for and deepen win-win cooperation as well as delivering more benefits for our respective peoples.
He went on to say that “the brotherly friendship between China and Africa has been tempered in struggle and tested by time.”
Even more so, China’s foreign minister encouraged “stronger coordination on international affairs, serving as an important force for international fairness and justice” in the world.
Ma Zhaoxu has an illustrious career in diplomacy. He would have gained a good foundation in the international relations studies pursued at Beida. Yet it is now incumbent on him to ensure that China continues on the win-win, mutual benefit relationships it has built with BRICS countries and South Africa.
As a Cape Townian brother once visited Beida as a student, a Chinese brother who studied at Beida now visits Cape Town as one of China’s top diplomats. Both visits though aiming to strengthen the bonds of brother-and-sisterhood.
Seale completed his PhD in international relations at Beiwai.