China Exports to South Africa was US$21.81 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. China Exports to South Africa - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on September of 2025.

China takes up ************ of overall trade within BRICS in 2022, the economic partnership between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. China records significant trade figures with all four other members within BRICS. Brazil and Russia focus towards the Asian country. India-South Africa, interestingly, is higher than that of India-Russia or Russia-Brazil, two relatively established partnerships. It should also be noted that several countries allegedly hope to join BRICS in the foreseeable future. These countries - notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE - are oriented towards India and China when it comes to trade. These potential applications follow amidst rumors in 2023 of the creation of BRICS currency - which would allow member countries to pay for trade without having to use the U.S. dollar.

China Imports from South Africa of Articles of tin, not specified elsewhere was US$2.82 Thousand during 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. China Imports from South Africa of Articles of tin, not specified elsewhere - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on September of 2025.

Figure 3 depicts China-Africa trade from 2000 to 2013. It shows that China-Africa trade consistently grew since the formation of the FOCAC in 2000. As can be seen in the figure, the US trade with Africa declined after the 2008 global financial crisis, allowing China to take the lead as Africa's largest trading partner. Figure 7 shows trade between China and Africa from 2003 to 2021. Although with fluctuations, trade between the two sides has been increasing since the establishment of the FOCAC mechanism. It reached a first high of US$203 billion in 2015 and then declined significantly the following year. However, the trade increased again from 2017 and surged to US$254 billion in 2021, up by 35% from the previous year. The high trade volume in 2021 has been attributed to the additional Chinese exports of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), such as masks and hazmat suits, as well as pharmaceutical products and testing equipment for the COVID-19 pandemic to Africa. However, Gu et al (2022: 11) indicated that the strong increase in China-Africa trade volume in 2021 is remarkable as data from China's customs agency shows that it is "made up of an increase in both Chinese exports to Africa (29.9% year-on-year) and African exports to China (43.7% year-on-year)". Figure 4 shows the number of countries around the world that have joined China's Belt and Road Initiatiative (BRI). As can be seen in the figure, China's BRI has attracted more than 140 countries. In Africa, the first countries that signed up for the BRI project were East and North African countries such as Kenya, Djibouti, Tanzania and Egypt. In Figure 5, the map shows the number of African countries that have signed up for the BRI since 2015. As can be seen in the figure, 52 countries in Africa had signed some BRI-related Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China by 2022.

Table 1 shows that studies that analysed the China-Africa relationship focusing on their 'strategic partnership' are very few, given the voluminous literature on China and Africa. A search of Sino-Africa studies conducted in English with the term 'strategic partnership' in their titles produced only ten papers (see table). Furthermore, as the table shows, studies investigating the increased security cooperation in China-Africa relations conducted in English are rare, although this part of the debate has also produced numerous research publications. The column titled 'Focus of study' in Table 1 above shows that majority of these studies concentrated on analysing economic cooperation, while a few also included political relations between China and Africa. Also, the column titled 'Definition of strategic partnership' shows that, all these studies, except Akpan and Onya (2018), made no attempts to define the concept of strategic partnership. Figure 8 shows the countries around the world in which the United Nations (UN) has deployed its peacekeepers. As shown in the figure, the UN has deployed several peacekeeping missions around the world since the late 1940s, with most of these operations taking place in the African continent. Figure 9 focuses on the UN’s peacekeeping operations in Africa. As can be seen in the figure, Chinese peacekeeping troops were deployed in five out of the seven UN-led missions on the African continent as of 2019. Figure 12 shows the foreign military bases that currently exist in African countries. As the figure shows, the African Continent is a host to 47 known foreign military bases, of which 34 are United States (US) bases. Figure 13 shows the foreign military bases in Djibouti. As seen in the figure, Djibouti hosts the US' Camp Lemonnier military base, just 13.4 kilometres away from the Chinese PLA's new navy facility, along with military bases of other major powers such as France, Germany and Japan in close proximity. Djibouti thus found itself in the middle of diplomatic tensions between China and the US over fears of a Chinese takeover of the Doraleh Container Terminal, Djibouti's main container port, in 2018, as China financed the development of the port. Figure 6 shows China's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) commitments from 2006 to 2021. As can be seen in the figure, China's financial pledges to assist Africa increased from US$5 billion to US$60 in 2015. However, they dropped to US$40 billion in 2021. Further, drops in the number of activities, such as official development assistance (ODAs) and capacity building, including reductions in security collaborations, were also noted. However, a new development was China's reallocation of US$10 billion of its Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) towards Africa from the US$40 billion that it received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Jilin: Import: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 0.528 USD th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.266 USD th for Dec 2024. Jilin: Import: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 1,243.210 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 103 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 25,902.470 USD th in Jan 2022 and a record low of 0.035 USD th in Dec 2022. Jilin: Import: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Jilin.

China Exports of matches to South Africa was US$799 during 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. China Exports of matches to South Africa - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on July of 2025.

Liaoning: Export: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 28,169.377 USD th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 23,267.970 USD th for Feb 2025. Liaoning: Export: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 24,637.466 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 123 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 51,891.903 USD th in Jul 2022 and a record low of 8,007.485 USD th in May 2020. Liaoning: Export: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Liaoning.

Xinjiang: Import: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 5,440.192 USD th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,939.245 USD th for Feb 2025. Xinjiang: Import: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 274.990 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 104 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12,745.084 USD th in Jul 2019 and a record low of 0.025 USD th in Jul 2022. Xinjiang: Import: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Xinjiang.

Jiangsu: Import: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 50,692.664 USD th in Mar 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 114,241.472 USD th for Feb 2025. Jiangsu: Import: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 88,307.609 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 123 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 222,980.905 USD th in Jan 2022 and a record low of 28,664.418 USD th in Feb 2015. Jiangsu: Import: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Jiangsu.

Qinghai: Import: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 1,328.122 USD th in Feb 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8,589.424 USD th for Jan 2024. Qinghai: Import: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 1,407.667 USD th from Feb 2015 (Median) to Feb 2024, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 19,522.212 USD th in Apr 2022 and a record low of 0.271 USD th in Jun 2015. Qinghai: Import: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Qinghai.

Hubei: Export: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 42,927.913 USD th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 19,088.239 USD th for Feb 2025. Hubei: Export: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 19,138.475 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 123 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 57,502.874 USD th in Aug 2022 and a record low of 2,065.708 USD th in Feb 2020. Hubei: Export: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Hubei.

CN: Fujian: Export: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 67,680.674 USD th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 30,201.191 USD th for Feb 2025. CN: Fujian: Export: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 78,118.775 USD th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 123 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 173,992.340 USD th in Nov 2022 and a record low of 23,281.088 USD th in Feb 2020. CN: Fujian: Export: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Fujian.

Hebei: Export: Africa: South Africa data was reported at 433,567.318 RMB th in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 243,591.501 RMB th for Feb 2025. Hebei: Export: Africa: South Africa data is updated monthly, averaging 233,412.748 RMB th from Jan 2015 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 123 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 685,451.807 RMB th in Dec 2022 and a record low of 58,094.188 RMB th in Feb 2020. Hebei: Export: Africa: South Africa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: RMB: Foreign Trade: Hebei.

Liaoning: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data was reported at 34.952 USD th in Sep 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 105.002 USD th for Aug 2022. Liaoning: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data is updated monthly, averaging 86.983 USD th from Sep 2017 (Median) to Sep 2022, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3,855.763 USD th in Feb 2022 and a record low of 0.050 USD th in Oct 2021. Liaoning: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Liaoning.

China Exports of articles of natural cork to South Africa was US$157 during 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. China Exports of articles of natural cork to South Africa - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on July of 2025.

Shandong: Import: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data was reported at 0.443 USD th in Jun 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.003 USD th for Dec 2021. Shandong: Import: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data is updated monthly, averaging 28,544.550 USD th from Feb 2017 (Median) to Jun 2022, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 68,547.676 USD th in Sep 2019 and a record low of 0.001 USD th in Apr 2017. Shandong: Import: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Shandong.

Sichuan: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data was reported at 104.167 USD th in Jan 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 5.589 USD th for Dec 2022. Sichuan: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data is updated monthly, averaging 5.640 USD th from May 2017 (Median) to Jan 2023, with 43 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 214.641 USD th in Oct 2022 and a record low of 0.001 USD th in Nov 2018. Sichuan: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Sichuan.

South Africa Exports of artificial fur to China was US$327 during 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. South Africa Exports of artificial fur to China - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on July of 2025.

CN: Heilongjiang: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data was reported at 63,787.231 RMB th in Dec 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 54,840.540 RMB th for Aug 2022. CN: Heilongjiang: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data is updated monthly, averaging 2,819.958 RMB th from Jan 2017 (Median) to Dec 2022, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 98,965.859 RMB th in Dec 2020 and a record low of 0.000 RMB th in Feb 2022. CN: Heilongjiang: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: RMB: Foreign Trade: Heilongjiang.

CN: Jilin: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data was reported at 405.499 USD th in Jan 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 83.702 USD th for Oct 2022. CN: Jilin: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data is updated monthly, averaging 510.439 USD th from Oct 2020 (Median) to Jan 2023, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,701.335 USD th in Mar 2021 and a record low of 74.601 USD th in Oct 2020. CN: Jilin: Export: Africa: Republic of South Sudan data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by General Administration of Customs. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s International Trade – Table CN.JBA: USD: Foreign Trade: Jilin.