Both nations have made steady progress in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Since 2005, China has been granting duty-free treatments for certain products imported from Lesotho. The current volume of trade is about $100 million, with the volume of Chinese exports about three times higher than that of Lesotho to China. China mainly exports textile and electromechanical products to Lesotho and imports mohair, jewellery and precious metals. Botswana mainly exports primary products to China and imports intermediate goods and capital goods, mainly used as inputs for infrastructure development in the country. The increase in Chinese imports into Botswana‘s domestic market has mainly replaced imports from other countries and Chinese exports of textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF) have gained market share thanks to Botswana‘s TCF exports to the third markets, South Africa. Current bilateral trade is about $300 million per year. However, it tends to pose problems when it comes to facilitating intra-African trade outside its own bloc, when this should be mitigated with the advent of the AfCFTA agreement. That is why there was talk of inviting Zambia and Zimbabwe to SACU — which, if that happened, would be of even greater interest to the Chinese. Both are relatively prosperous nations, with Zambia with a GDP of about $30 billion and Zimbabwe about $20 billion. Both have attractive resources for China. South Africa is represented in Hong Kong by a Consulate General in Wanchai, also accredited in Macau. [2] Hong Kong‘s trade relations with South Africa are encouraged by the Hong Kong Trade Council office in Johannesburg.
[3] Neither the BRICS bloc nor the Belt and Road Initiative are free trade zones, although what BRICS does potentially provides a common forum through which other free trade agreements can be negotiated. The importance that the BRICS have and their planned actions almost certainly mean that it is a platform to launch this — and the declaration of the BRICS 2019 Of Brasilia expressed exactly this scenario. China‘s overall commitment to Africa in recent years has been quite intense. Chinese companies, in partnership with competent African governments, have invested heavily across the African continent in creating a series of free trade zones and special economic zones. In addition, it should be noted that there is an ASEAN influence in the mix. The ASEAN bloc — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — is quite close. From Durban, South Africa‘s largest port to Singapore, the logistics zone takes 14 days or a 13-hour flight. China has a free trade agreement with ASEAN, which means SACU companies can use it.
This is a coordinated response to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), signed earlier this year, which will reduce intra-African tariffs to 90% of all goods and goods traded in African countries to zero over a five-year period.