CHINA: Vice President Xi Jinping meets with South Africa's Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Beijing to cement trade ties

Record ID: 456057

  • Title: CHINA: Vice President Xi Jinping meets with South Africa's Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Beijing to cement trade ties
  • Date: 29th September 2011
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 28, 2011) (REUTERS) TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE PORTRAIT OF CHAIRMAN MAO ON GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE EXTERIOR OF GREAT HALL OF THE WALL CHINESE VICE PRESIDENT XI JINPING AND SOUTH AFRICA'S DEPUTY PRESIDENT KGALEMA MOTLANTHE WALKING ONTO PODIUM XI AND MOTLANTHE STANDING ON PODIUM MOTLANTHE XI VARIOUS OF HONOUR GUARDS STANDING WELCOME CEREMONY IN PROGRESS HONOUR GUARDS LINING UP XI AND MOTLANTHE STANDING ON PODIUM XI AND MOTLANTHE WALKING OFF PODIUM VARIOUS XI AND MOTLANTHE INSPECTING HONOUR GUARDS XI AND MOTLANTHE LEAVING MEETING IN PROGRESS XI TALKING MOTLANTHE AND SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATES LISTENING MEETING IN PROGRESS MOTLANTHE TALKING XI AND CHINESE DELEGATES LISTENING MEETING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF CHINESE AND SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATES WALKING XI AND MOTLANTHE POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS CHINESE DELEGATE SIGNING DOCUMENTS SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATE SIGNING ON DOCUMENTS CHINESE DELEGATE AND SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATE EXCHANGING DOCUMENTS AND SHAKING HANDS CHINESE AND SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL FLAGS VARIOUS OF XI AND MOTLANTHE TOASTING EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING CHINESE NATIONAL EMBLEM ON BUILDING CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON HONG LEI ARRIVING AT REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMEN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON HONG LEI SAYING: "We have repeated many times that our stance against the Dalai Lama visiting any country is consistent and clear." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China, China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAEBAF41YUWLV2F8MQCW0SNJCI9
  • Story Text: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping held talks with his South African counterpart Kgalema Motlanthe in Beijing on Wednesday (September 28) to cement economic relations amid speculation that the host may use the trip to pressure Pretoria to reject a visa application by the Dalai Lama.
    At the invitation of Xi who is widely seen as China's future leader, Motlanthe kicked off a three-day official visit aimed at bolstering economic ties with its largest trading partner.
    The delegates signed agreements blueprinting the bilateral cooperation on green technologies and industrial financing in the Great Hall of the People.
    Despite of South Africa's ambition of drumming up Chinese investment to help boost its flagging economy, the visa application of the Dalai Lama loomed large in Motlanthe's Beijing trip.
    The Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Dalai Lama was invited by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another Peace Prize recipient, to attend his 80th birthday celebration in early October.
    South Africa has not made a decision yet to grant a entry visa to the Dalai Lama, who was once once embraced as a beacon of peace in South Africa when apartheid ended but now has become a diplomatic headache for the country as its economic fortunes are increasingly linked to China.
    In July, Xi, in his first major speech on Tibet, vowed to crack down on separatist forces he said were led by the Dalai Lama, suggesting he will not ease Beijing's hardline stance towards the region and angering many Tibetan self-advocacy groups.
    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei reiterated Beijing's tough principle on Wednesday.
    "We have repeated many times that our stance against the Dalai Lama visiting any country is consistent and clear," he said.
    Pretoria rejected the Dalai Lama's last application when Tutu and former Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk invited him to a 2010 peace conference.
    South Africa exports about $5.5 billion a year in minerals to China and Africa's largest economy has been increasingly a destination for Chinese foreign direct investment.
    China last year invited South Africa to join the BRIC grouping, a diplomatic coup for President Jacob Zuma. It was also seen by analysts as a Chinese stamp of approval for the country's role as a stepping stone to the African continent.
    Beijing has ruled Tibet with an iron fist since Communist troops marched in in 1950. It says its rule has brought much needed development to a poor and backward region.
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