Economics | The benefits of BRICS do not dictate the sacrifice of human rights

By Pierre Heistein

This article originally appeared in the Business Report Opinion & Analysis pages on 13 October 2011. To interact with Pierre, visit www.facebook.com/understandingeconomics.

By not granting the Dalai Lama an entry visa in the face of Chinese pressure, has the South African government sacrificed the morals of a nation? Or has it played the hard role of letting us wag our fingers in shame while we hold out the other hand for the rewards we are constantly demanding from them?

For the last two years, President Jacob Zuma has been working tirelessly to secure South Africa’s place in the political club of the BRIC nations, a success that should not be underestimated. Together, these countries make up around 20% of the world’s GDP and China became South Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner in 2009. Just before the Dalai Lama scandal, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe secured a R19.5 billion agreement between the Development Bank of South Africa and its Chinese counterpart to develop infrastructure and help support growth within South Africa. That’s a lot of jobs.

For the business sector, South Africa’s relationship with China and its inclusion in the BRIC nations has already produced significant rewards. The BRIC nations see South Africa as a gateway to the rest of Africa, both for its abundance of natural resources as well as its consumer base of over one billion people. The attraction of greater involvement in the African economy has brought in a flood of new investment that is boosting local business activity within South Africa. The positive sign about this new foreign investment is that is it not solely based in the unsustainable primary sector of mineral extraction, but has diversified itself across many industries such as banking, telecommunications and vehicle manufacturing. The BRIC nations are looking to expand into Africa and will help build up South Africa’s infrastructure and economic institutions as they do.

The inclusion into BRICS also allows South Africa a prime opportunity to diversify its export markets and avoid the danger of being trapped by the stagnating demand from the US and the EU. Increased access to markets in India and China especially will allow South African businesses to capitalise on the high economic growth of these countries and escape what would otherwise be a long road to recovery.

China should not be viewed as the overpowering evil, but rather as a timely opportunity that can help to boost the welfare of all South Africans and help reach the economic goals that have been set.

But does this mean we have to sacrifice our basic human rights and become puppets to unspoken commands in order to reap these benefits?

Absolutely not. The Dalai Lama lives in exile in India and last year was welcomed with open arms by Brazil – two countries whose trade and relations with China are ever strengthening. Some studies have shown that accepting the Dalai Lama causes weakening trade with China, but these highlight correlation and causation is simply assumed.

While China could damage trade relations with South Africa, it has no reason to. It has too much to lose. By letting China hold the reins, South African foreign policy has put itself on a dangerous path to which there is no end unless we draw it. Through BRICS, South Africa will now have stronger allies in international forums such as the UN Security Council, the G20, and COP17. However, unless we stand up for our own goals and values, our vote will become nothing more than an addition to theirs and we will lose our political identity completely. South Africa is a valuable country and foreign policy must remain representative of that.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.