Beijing | Monday
CHINA and South Africa will launch a new forum for dialogue on relations during the ongoing three-day visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki, state press said on Monday.
Mbeki, the first South African president to visit China since diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1998, will jointly inaugurate a bilateral commission on relations with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the China Daily said.
The two will also oversee the signing of documents relating to the commission and to an extradition treaty, South African diplomats said.
Foreign Ministers Tang Jiaxuan and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma finalised details of the accord on establishing a China-South Africa Bi-National Commission on Sunday, the paper said.
In his talks with Jiang scheduled for later on Monday, Mbeki is also expected to seek ways to slash South Africa’s $334,5-million dollar trade deficit with China, South African officials in Pretoria said earlier.
Mbeki will also visit the Nuclear Technology Institute of China’s Tsinghua University on Monday.
He leaves for Shanghai on Tuesday after giving a speech at a Beijing university.
Besides Foreign Minister Dlamini-Zuma, Mbeki is also accompanied by Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin and an entourage of South African businessmen.
South Africa established diplomatic ties with China only after severing ties with Taiwan, which had been an ally of the former apartheid government.
Four of China’s five top leaders have already visited South Africa, including Jiang, who was in the country in April last year. – AFP