China's pledge to invest in South African mining infrastructure.

Byline: Jenny zhou

Among the many partners in Africa, South Africa has taken the lead in signing a Memorandum of Understanding on Inter-Government Cooperation for the "Belt and Road Initiative" with China and the two countries have jointly deepened cooperation under the "Belt and Road Initiative" framework.

South Africa and China have cooperated diplomatically for about 20 years, with bilateral trade volume reaching $39.17 billion in 2017. South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa plans to attract $100 billion in investment to improve the economy within five years, some of which will come from mining projects.

Chinese investors have agreed to build a $10 billion metallurgical complex in 2019. The complex will include a stainless steel plant, a ferrochrome plant and a silicomanganese plant, there will be many mining machines, such as ore crushing equipment. In addition, a $90 million open-pit mining project in Limpopo will produce hard coal and thermal coal.

Since 2009, China has surpassed the United States and has become the African largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years. In 2013, China-Africa trade volume reached more than 210 billion dollars, which is more than 2,000 times the bilateral trade volume in 1960. In recent years, despite the decline in international commodity prices, the trade volume between China and Africa has fallen below 200 billion dollars, it is still nearly three times higher than the America-African trade volume. Africa is also China's third-largest overseas investment market and the second-largest overseas engineering contracting market. By the end of 2017, Chinese investment stock in Africa has exceeded $100 billion, and more than 3,500 Chinese companies have invested in Africa.

China and South Africa have built up a good relationship through the "Belt and Road Initiative" construction of mining infrastructure. The...

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