Enter the Dragon – Towards a Free Trade Agreement Between China and the Southern African Customs Union

Image: Flickr, GovernmentZA
Image: Flickr, GovernmentZA

South Africa and its partners in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) – Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland – are considering negotiating a free trade agreement with China.

Given China’s growing economic power, this initiative has far-reaching implications, each of which must be carefully considered. Apart from the chapter by David Hale, concentrating on China’s staggering demand for commodities, all contributions to this book follow from a 2004 SAIIA-IGD conference.

Researchers, policymakers, and business representatives used this forum to consider in detail China’s meteoric economic rise and what this portends for trade relations between that country and SACU.

“This volume … is at the leading edge of efforts to develop accurate and effective southern African perspectives on establishing a stable trade arrangement between SACU and China.”
– Foreword by Xavier Carim, Chief Director: Trade Negotiations, South African Department of Trade and Industry.

Press coverage: Sunday Times, November 2005.
http://www.suntimes.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=1778845

ISBN: 1-919697-80-2

The views expressed in this publication/article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).