Gert, former senior diplomat of South Africa: Why did I come to China as a visiting scholar?

In South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Gert still holds the record for the highest white title. After retiring from his post as deputy director general in charge of European and American affairs, "Lin Songtian (then Chinese ambassador to South Africa) asked me if I wanted to visit China for study, and "Yes" began the veteran diplomat's journey to China. On the occasion of the new Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Gert discussed China-Africa relations and Africa's role on the world stage from a new perspective.

Gert has been on missions to Spain, Japan and Madagascar in the last 20 years, and China was not originally in his life plan. Sitting in an office with a view of the lake in winter, born in 1947, he said he had applied three times to extend his visit at the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.

Gert said that there were two main driving forces for him to do so: first, he found that the research here was the cornerstone of china-Africa relations, and second, he wanted to spend more time understanding China.

From the northeast to the southwest, and from the Yangtze River Delta down the Yangtze River, a series of list of cities witnessed Gert's Chinese years. What he saw and heard along the way became a new inspiration for him to observe China-Africa relations: "In terms of green economy and renewable energy development, China is already in a leading position in the world, and Africa can fully use these experiences", "China's launch of the poverty reduction revolution also has major inspiration for African countries to eliminate poverty."

China-Africa relations are well known

I asked him, "How do you feel about being an ambassador and being a visiting scholar?" Gert believes that the ambassador's mission is to promote relations between the two countries from a pluralistic perspective, and visiting scholars can see the subtle.

"I have been able to feel strongly about Chinese interest in Africa on my travels and many public speaking occasions. Not to mention that Zhejiang itself has many investors and entrepreneurs who have come to Africa and followed, and from them I see the future of China-Africa relations," he said.

The opportunity to visit scholars allows Gert to think more down-to-earth and offer insights, which he thinks and does. As I was talking to him, "I spoke on the phone with Minister Pandole (Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa) and asked her to give a keynote speech on Africa Day, and the topic I thought of for her was "The Role of China in the African Vision."" South Africa succeeded Egypt as the chairmanship of the African Union last year, "Africa cannot achieve its development goals without China." ”

Tripartite cooperation is poised to take place

Immersed in African diplomatic circles for more than half a century, Gert is familiar with the African "small abacus" in the hearts of Europe and the United States, which also provides a lot of inspiration for Gert to think about China-Africa relations. "I met with de Villepin in Shanghai, and he thought the century in Africa was coming. China and Europe need to find common ground in their interests in Africa. ”

Coincidentally, many Japanese diplomats have frequently conveyed this message to Gert, "Japan is ready to cooperate with China in Africa." Gert believes that China and other countries can work together to propose a global African development and governance plan to jointly solve the problems of security, sustainable economy and green development.

Gert expects that at the Senegal forum, "tripartite cooperation" will allow people to see more results.

"After coming to China, I am more convinced that Africa can have a bright future. I've found that there are a lot of young Africans returning from Europe right now. Africa is experiencing an unprecedented opportunity to realize its development dreams," he said.

Gert said that in his diplomatic career, he had never seen such a disorderly situation in the international community today. "The United States has taken the lead in setting off a wave of unilateralism, and my brothers and sisters in Africa have told me that they do not feel any interest in Africa by former US President Trump, and Trump has done nothing."

Gert said that South Africa's diplomacy has five major levels, including cooperation with other African countries, South-South cooperation and "BRICS" emerging economies, traditional partners such as the United States and Europe, multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and partners such as Chile and Central Asian countries, "South Africa is a firm supporter of multilateralism, taking the Sino-US trade dispute as an example, South Africa insists that the role of the World Trade Organization should be brought into play." ”

Speaking about South Africa's "BRICS" role, Gert said from the perspective of the entire African continent, "South Africa is the only representative of Africa, so it pays more attention to how to use this platform to solve security, poverty reduction and development issues." ”

From the early 21st century to the present, Africa's role in the international arena has evolved from "a continent without hope" to "Africa rising." Specific to South Africa, Gert, who has remained optimistic despite the lackluster economic growth, said, "We have the richest resources in the world and a sound infrastructure and banking and financial system, coupled with the new president to punish corruption, I believe the economy will soon come out of the trough." ”

The data shows that China has become South Africa's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years, And South Africa is China's largest trading partner in Africa, with bilateral trade reaching $44 billion in 2018 and China's direct investment in South Africa totaling more than $25 billion.

Gert said that from his experience as a visiting scholar in China, there are two most worthwhile areas for cooperation between the two sides in the future. "Our ambassador to China told me that the new direction of cooperation between the China-South Africa Bilateral National Committee is the ocean blue economy. The African continent, including South Africa, has a long coastline and we can cooperate in areas such as mariculture and marine tourism. ”

In fact, the South African government proposed a special development plan for the marine economy six years ago, which is regarded as one of the main driving forces for South Africa's economic growth in the future. Gert, who is preparing to retire to Cape Town after returning to South Africa, said, "There are world-class seaside life and cruise terminals, but the number of Chinese visited is still too small." ”

In Gert's eyes, the number of Chinese students studying in South Africa needs to be increased in the future. In the past year, he has frequently submitted books to the South African media and written many exciting articles to introduce South African readers to a real China. However, in the face of some Chinese prejudice against South Africa, he felt somewhat powerless. "There are a lot of South African students in China, but there are very few young Chinese who go to South Africa to study, in fact, they don't understand that South Africa has world-class higher education and multiculturalism in English."

Saying that youth are the future, the elderly diplomat shouted, "South African young people should come to China to take a look, and Chinese young people should not be prejudiced against South Africa." ”

Don't look at The Gert is not very agile now, he was a member of the free provincial football game when he was younger. My love of rugby continues to this day, "I went to Japan in November to see the Rugby World Cup and we won the championship. ”

Gert said that rugby, which has run through his life, has taught him Mandela's famous saying, "Sport has the power to change the world".

A biography of Gert characters

Born in Johannesburg in April 1947, Gert graduated from the Free Provincial University in 1967 and then joined the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, devoting his life to South Africa's diplomatic career.

His diplomatic career has covered the United States, Britain, Spain, Germany, Andorra, Japan, Madagascar and many other countries and regions. He served as Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of South Africa in Hamburg, Consul General of the Consulate General in Chicago, and finally Deputy Director General in charge of European and American affairs.

In 2002, he became South Africa's Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. From 2008 to 2012, he was the new South African Ambassador to Japan. From 2012 to 2016, he was transferred to South Africa's Envoy to Madagascar.

Having worked in the South African diplomatic system for nearly half a century, as a special participant and witness in the history of South African diplomacy, he has witnessed the development of the old South Africa and the new South Africa for nearly a quarter of a century.

(The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.) Edit Email: [email protected])

Column Editor-in-Chief: Yang Liqun Text Editor: Yang Liqun Title Image Source: Author Provided Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying

Source: Author: Li Li