South AfricaSouth Africa

Map Creator: Shannon Borrel ’23, Political Science

The People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa have enjoyed high levels of cross-sector cooperation since the establishment of official diplomatic relations in 1998. Today, China is South Africa’s largest global trading partner, and South Africa is China’s second largest trading partner on the African continent. This map highlights some of the areas of economic, political, and cultural engagement between the two countries since 1998, including developments in mining and transportation, as well as political and cultural partnerships. The map also shows the Witwatersrand Basin and significant coal deposits, which have been, and continue to be, major generators of wealth for South Africa. The Musina-Makhado SEZ, a Special Economic Zone backed by the Chinese Development Bank, is also shown. The map aims to provide a survey of the extent to which Chinese-South African cooperation is taking place at multiple levels and across multiple sectors.