On 4--6 August, Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, Mr. Zhou Yuxiao attended the first meeting of Africa-China-US dialogue in Tswalu Natural Reserve of South Africa.

The Africa-China-US dialogue was initiated by the Brenthurst Foundation of South Africa established by the Oppenheimer family in 2005. The Brenthurst Foundation, the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences(CASS)and the Council on Foreign Relations of US are the co-sponsors of the dialogue. More than 30 delegates including senior officials, former politicians and scholars from Africa, China and US were invited to the meeting. The Chinese prominent scholars, Professor Tao Wenzhao, Former Deputy Director-General of the Institute of American Studies in CASS and Professor Yu Yongding, Director-General of the Institute of World Economics and Politics in CASS, made presentations respectively at the meeting.

The participants exchanged views on peace and security in Africa, democracy, governance, economic development, business environment as well as Sino-Africa relations, US-Africa relations and the implication of Chinese and US's presence in Africa. They agreed that, the increased presence of China in Africa is positive to the development of Africa, and there is no fundamental conflict of interests between China and US in their interactions with Africa. However, China and US are expected to be more transparent in their business with Africa and work together in helping Africa.

Mr. Zhou also made remarks about China's path of development, Sino-Africa relations, China's assistance to Africa and possible cooperation between China and US in strengthening capacity-building for African countries.