The Foreign Ministry
has urged the South African government to bring those responsible
for the recent armed robberies against Chinese citizens to justice
as soon as possible.
Huang Ping, deputy director of the ministry's Consular Affairs
Department, held an urgent meeting yesterday with Vusi B. Koloane,
chargé d'affaires of the South African Embassy in Beijing,
according to a press release from the ministry.
Huang told Koloane that the Chinese government attaches great
importance to the life and property safety of overseas Chinese
citizens and is very concerned about the recent spate of
events.
"We hope South Africa will take China's concerns into full
consideration, severely punish the killers according to law and
take whatever measures necessary to improve the local security
situation to prevent the reoccurrence of similar cases," Huang
said.
Koloane vowed that South Africa would thoroughly investigate the
cases and would join with Chinese police to launch an effective
campaign against organized crime in the country.
He also expressed his condolences to the families of those
killed in the armed robberies.
Three Chinese business people were killed by armed robbers in
South Africa within 36 hours last weekend; another one was killed
earlier this year.
China has already appealed to Chinese citizens in South Africa
to keep alert and take necessary precautions.
According to latest official statistics, there were more than 40
armed robberies involving Chinese citizens in South Africa last
year, with eight fatalities.
In another development, Vice Minister of Commerce Wei Jianguo
met with Koloane earlier on Wednesday and said that China is
willing to enhance technology transfer and investment cooperation
with South Africa in textiles, agriculture, mining and
medicine.
Wei also said that China hopes the first round of?talks on
establishment of free trade area between China and the Southern
African Customs Union (SACU) will be started as soon as
possible.
South Africa will further improve its investment environment so
as to attract more Chinese business people, Koloane said.
In 2005, the value of trade between
China and South Africa grew 23 percent year-on-year to US$7.27
billion, making South Africa China's largest trade partner in
Africa.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2006)