By Qingjiang Pan:
Remarks by Mr Qingjiang Pan, Chinese Consul General in Johannesburg, at the “China’s Development, Global Opportunities” Seminar on November 6, 2025.
Distinguished guests and dear friends from the political circle, local government and legislature, business community, academia, social organisation and media,
Good afternoon.
Welcome to the Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg at the Seminar: “China’s Development, Global Opportunities”.
The consulate hosts this themed seminar against the background of the successful convening of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing last month.
The most important outcome of the Session was the adoption of the Proposals of the CPC on formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development.
Strategic plan for China’s development over the next five years
This session provided a top-level design and strategic plan for China’s development over the next five years, sending a clear signal of expanding high-level opening-up and creating a new landscape of win-win cooperation.
This was a very important meeting held as China embarks on a new journey towards its second centenary goal.
I am pleased to share my takeaways from the meeting and look with you at the opportunities that China’s new development will bring to the world, including South Africa.
Significant accomplishments in economic and social development
Firstly, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have been committed to realising a blueprint to the end, continuously achieving new and significant accomplishments in economic and social development.
Guiding economic and social development with medium- and long-term plans is an important approach for the CPC to govern the country. Since 1953, China has successively formulated and implemented 14 Five-Year Plans (Programs), fully leveraging the institutional advantage of the CPC Central Committee’s centralised and unified leadership.
Today, China has a strong development momentum
It has completed the industrialisation process that took Western developed countries hundreds of years in just a few decades, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability.
Today, China has a strong development momentum. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, its GDP scale continued to break through 110, 120, and 130 trillion RMB, and is expected to reach approximately 140 trillion RMB by the end of 2025, with an average annual contribution rate to world economic growth remaining at around 30%.
Today, China is full of innovative vitality, with its ranking in the Global Innovation Index rising from 34th in 2012 to 10th in 2025. Fruitful results have been achieved in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum communication, and high-end chips.
Today, China is becoming greener, contributing a quarter of the world’s new green area in the past five years. It has built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system, with green electricity accounting for one out of every three kilowatt-hours consumed in the whole society.
Chinese people’s well-being has significantly improved
Today, Chinese people’s well-being has significantly improved, with the average life expectancy increasing to 79 years. It has established the world’s largest education system, social security system, and health care system, and has historically solved the problem of absolute poverty.
It has been said by many international observers that China’s clear direction, steady pace, and remarkable achievements have injected valuable certainty and stability into the turbulent and complex world economy.
Secondly, the “15th Five-Year Plan” is a crucial period for China to basically realise socialist modernisation, demonstrating the bright prospects of China’s path to modernisation.
Aiming to achieve socialist modernisation by 2035
Building on the good start of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the “15th Five-Year Plan” is of great significance in linking the past and the future for China to basically achieve socialist modernisation by 2035.
We will keep economic development as our central task and pursue high-quality development as the main theme.
We will adhere to the comprehensive leadership of the CPC, adhere to the people-centred approach, adhere to comprehensively deepening reform, adhere to combining an effective market with a capable government, and adhere to coordinating development and security.
We will accelerate the construction of a manufacturing powerhouse, a quality powerhouse, an aerospace powerhouse, a transportation powerhouse, and a cyber powerhouse.
Role of science, technology and education to enhance innovation
We will highlight the leading role of scientific and technological innovation, coordinate the construction of a strong country in education, science and technology, and talent, so as to comprehensively enhance independent innovation capabilities.
We will continue to consolidate the foundation of people’s livelihood, steadily promote common prosperity for all, and focus on solving the urgent and difficult problems of the people in education, healthcare, elderly care, childcare, and employment.
We will deepen and solidify the green path of development, accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, firmly establish and practice the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and consolidate the ecological security barrier.
National strength will be more solid, and people’s lives will be better
Looking forward to China in five years, its comprehensive national strength will be more solid, and people’s lives will be better. The giant ship of China’s path to modernisation will surely ride the wind and waves and sail to a broader sea.
Thirdly, China unswervingly expands high-level opening-up and always shares development opportunities with the world.
At present, economic globalisation is encountering “headwinds,” and unilateralism and protectionism are intensifying. However, China still firmly embraces economic globalisation and regards opening up as a hallmark of Chinese modernisation.
In the past five years, China’s trade in goods and services has ranked first and second in the world, with a cumulative foreign investment of over 700 billion US dollars and an average annual growth rate of outward investment exceeding 5%.
China’s negative list for foreign investment access has been reduced to 29 items, the manufacturing sector has achieved “zeroing,” and 22 free trade pilot zones have actively aligned with international high-standard economic and trade rules.
Transforming into economic momentum
China’s innovation potential is continuously transforming into economic momentum, synergistically promoting carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth, providing a broad innovation stage and green growth conditions for the world.
The Fourth Plenary Session clearly proposed that China will steadily expand institutional opening-up, maintain the multilateral trading system, expand international circulation, actively expand autonomous opening-up, promote trade innovation and development, expand the space for two-way investment cooperation, and jointly build the “Belt and Road” with high quality.
Providing new opportunities for the world
In short, China will open its door wider, make our cooperation list more concrete, turn the strengths of China’s supersized market into shared dividends for the world, and continuously provide new opportunities for the world with new achievements in its modernisation.
Dear friends, under the guidance of the two heads of state, the China-South African relationship has achieved substantial and leapfrog development with an elevation of positioning to an all-round strategic cooperative partnership in a new era, with mutually beneficial cooperation deepening across various sectors.
Heralding a strong momentum of growth
The two sides have been strengthening coordination and collaboration through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, FOCAC, and BRICS. The bilateral relationship is heralding a strong momentum of growth and embracing an exceptionally promising future.
Amid the profound changes in today’s global landscape, our relationship has become increasingly significant in strengthening the power of the Global South and promoting regional and world peace and development.
In the area of economy and trade, China has been the largest trading partner of South Africa for consecutive 16 years, while South Africa remains China’s largest trading partner in Africa for consecutive 15 years.
Increased imports from South Africa
In recent years, China has steadily increased imports from South Africa. In the area of agriculture, for example, as avocados and dairy products have gained market access to China, 68 categories of South African agri-food products can be exported to China. 90% of South Africa’s pecans and half of its macadamias are sold to China.
These products have enriched the food baskets of Chinese consumers and, more importantly, increased the incomes of South African farmers and exporters.
South Africa is also a key destination for Chinese investment in Africa, with over 200 Chinese companies having invested more than 11 billion US dollars in this land.
Their investment covers new energy, automobile manufacturing, digital economy, mineral processing, and agro-processing etc., creating more than 400,000 local jobs.
To deepen China-South Africa industrial and supply-chain cooperation
China stands ready to work with South Africa to deepen industrial and supply-chain cooperation, support manufacturing upgrades and local content, and advance connectivity projects in agro-processing, cold-chain logistics, ports and economic corridors.
China is committed to bringing our bilateral cooperation to a greater depth, and lifting China-South Africa relations to higher levels through measures such as zero-tariff treatment, greater market access, optimising trade structure and encouraging Chinese enterprises to further invest in South Africa.
It is hoped that people from all sectors of both sides will take full advantage of the important opportunities and promising prospects presented by China’s new development and the China-South Africa relations, and increase mutual engagement and synergies so as to inject new impetus into expanding trade and boosting investment, continue to deliver real results and make fresh contributions to the growth of relations of all levels and in various areas. – @NewsSA_Online
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