China's top legislator eyes stronger parliamentary cooperation with South Africa

Top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang met here Monday with South African parliamentary leaders and called for closer cooperation between the two countries' legislatures.

China-South Africa relations have maintained robust development in recent years, said Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China, during a meeting with Thandi Modise, chairwoman of South Africa's National Council of Provinces, and Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli, deputy speaker of South Africa's National Assembly.

The priority facing the two countries now is to earnestly carry out the consensuses reached during the reciprocal visits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma, and build the bilateral relationship into a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and a model for cooperation between large developing countries, Zhang added.

The NPC is ready to boost cooperation with the South African parliament, including within the framework of BRICS, so as to push forward the development of the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.

For her part, Modise said the South African legislature supports the deepening of South Africa-China all-dimensional cooperation and is willing to work toward the goal.

The Chinese and South African parliamentary leaders were in Moscow for a BRICS parliamentary forum, during which the five leading emerging countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- pledged to get parliamentary cooperation into full swing so as to contribute to the deepening of BRICS cooperation. Endi