The two countries have been invited to a summit of the Group of Eight (G8)
industrialized nations in Russia next month, where they are expected to voice
concerns of developing countries over market access, aid, climate change and
health.
On the stalled reform of the UN Security Council, with China as one of its
five permanent members, China and South Africa stressed the need to "increase
the representation of African Member States" in the decision-making organ, and
agreed to continue to exchange views and work together in this regard.
The African Union, Africa's 53-member bloc, has insisted that the existing
five-member permanent Security Council panel should be added with two
veto-wielding permanent seats, with South Africa among front-runner candidates.
China also promised to continue to participate in UN peacekeeping operations
in Africa and support peacekeeping operations conducted by regional and
sub-regional organizations in Africa.
In economic field, the two countries said they would seek to expand bilateral
trade in a manner of "fairness, equality and mutual benefit."
With South Africa being China's largest trading partner in Africa for years,
volumes of bilateral trade reached 7.27 billion U.S. dollars last year,
increasing by 23 percent compared with 2004. The figure could climb to 8 billion
dollars this year.
But South Africa has expressed its concern over trade imbalance in favor of
China, insufficient Chinese investment into South Africa, and the influx of
Chinese textile products into local market, which according to South African
textile industry and trade unions has been a heavy blow to the local industry.
Wen said Wednesday in Cape Town that China was willing to take
self-restrictive measures to limit China's export of textiles to South Africa
"in order to ensure stability in the textile market in this country."
The document said China was also ready to undertake detailed free-trade
discussions with the Southern African Customs Union, dominated by South Africa.
The SACU-China Free Trade Agreement was expected to help bring greater
investment to South Africa while boosting South Africa's exports to the Chinese
market.
China offered to assist South Africa in its ambitious Accelerated and Shared
Growth Initiative (AsgiSA), which aims to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014
through maintaining a 6 percent growth of economy.
"China is ready to provide assistance to the best of its ability in human
resources development, including skills training, capacity building and Chinese
language teaching," said the document.
Over the next three years, China will train 300 personnel for South Africa in
economic and administrative management, civil engineering and Chinese language
tour guide.
Agriculture, energy, tourism, health, scientific research and crime-fighting
were also identified as key areas for China and South Africa to carry out
broader cooperation, according to the document.