JOHN DLUDLU: Partnership, not rivalry, needed between West and China
Beijing’s new superpower status should be harnessed towards the betterment of all of humanity
There is a well-recycled story among SA’s career diplomats about China’s rise. Apparently, during Nelson Mandela’s administration China approached Pretoria to send hundreds of trade diplomats to learn Mandarin, at Beijing’s cost, so that negotiations would be smoother and effortless.
Coming months after the switch of diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to mainland China this offer was ignored, and SA would spend the next decades watching, star-struck, as China rose to superpower status. Year in, year out, meetings would be organised to understand China’s policy towards Africa, and they would be told to read it on the internet. ..
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