Ailing SA should learn from China

It is ironic, given the amount of Chinese-made goods we consume, that most South Africans are quite ignorant about this global superpower.

When one of our reporters travelled to China recently (his story is in our Travel supplement today), it was eye-opening and sadly, left him wondering where this country might have been had our political leaders not been so focused on looting.

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Around the time SA became a democratic nation in 1994, large parts of China were still mired in awful poverty. Just under 30 years later, that poverty has been turned into prosperity in many areas.

While we in South Africa crow about our 160km/h Gautrain, there are scores of high-speed trains – with speeds of 300km/h and up – in China and tens of thousands of kilometres of high-speed rail links.

Our reporter couldn’t help notice the authoritarian air in instances like the iron control over the internet. But efficiency, cleanliness and discipline were also evident.

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China will only grow as a force in world affairs and, for us in Africa, that can have negative or positive consequences, especially if there is a new, economic, colonialism.

However, while being aware of China’s dark side, we should be ready to learn from it.