The CCS is currently part of the Asian Drivers Research Project examining the impact of China and India in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project is an initiative undertaken by the African Economic Research Consortium which brings together several research institutions to assess the opportunities and challenges the rise of China and India represent to Africa’s development. The Centre’s role in this project is to focus on the infrastructural impact of China and India’s engagement in Africa.
Research Areas
The Centre for Chinese Studies’ primary research focus is the role of China in the African context and its economic and political implications. The Centre has been involved in a number of research projects covering a wide range of related topics. Some of these are listed below.
Asian Drivers Research Project
Nedlac SACU-China Research
The Centre for Chinese Studies forms part of the consortium that was awarded the NEDLAC tender for trade research into the proposed SACU-China free trade agreement. The research period was from November 2005 to March 2006. As part of this process, the Director of the CCS was nominated to serve on SACOB’s Working Group Committee on the SACU-China free trade agreement. The CCS conducted research on the trade and industrial strategies of the PRC. Findings were submitted to the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) for preparation toward negotiations with the Chinese Government.
Scoping Studies on China-Africa Economic Relations
The CCS successfully completed three scoping studies for the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), findings of which were presented in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in December 2007. The scoping studies on China-Africa economic relations, which brought together several research institutions, analysed China’s trade, investment and aid relationship with a number of African economies. The Centre focused on the country case studies Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The scoping studies serve as initial research for further in-depth studies into select African economies’ relationship with China.
South Africa’s agricultural trading relationship with China
The Centre for Chinese Studies together with the Trade Law Centre of Southern Africa (tralac) in March 2008 completed a study commissioned by the Nordic Africa Institute in Sweden, evaluating China’s trading relationship with South Africa. The study focuses specifically on the agricultural trading relationship and provides an overview of non-tariff barriers to trade for South African agricultural exporters to China, and is available here. A follow-up to the study examines non-tariff measures inhibiting South African exports to China and India, and is available here.
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2008
The UNCTAD World Investment Report 2008 titled “Transnational Corporations and the Infrastructure Challenge” was released in September 2008. The CCS contributed to the publication through the mapping of various Chinese and Indian infrastructure projects in Africa, providing background information pertaining to China’s engagement in Africa and investment trends of multinationals from South Africa, China and other emerging markets into Sub-Saharan Africa.
Issue 54 – August 2010 
