On June 24, 2009, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, the United States, on the sidelines of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.

During the meeting, Yang hailed the sound development of bilateral ties. Since the establishment of strategic partnership between China and South Africa, the mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has scored remarkable achievements, Yang told Mashabane. China attaches great importance to strategic partnership with South Africa, he said. China appreciated South African President Jacob Zuma's efforts in promoting China-South Africa friendship and would like to make concerted efforts with South Africa to further deepen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in all areas. China is also ready to strengthen communication and coordination with South Africa in international affairs and jointly protect the interests of developing countries in a bid to promote world peace, stability and development, Yang said.

Yang said China attached great importance to the fourth ministerial meeting of China-Africa Cooperation Forum set to be held in Egypt at year end. China looked forward to close cooperation with African countries to push the meeting towards productive results and advance a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership.

Mashabane expressed satisfaction with the continuous development of the bilateral strategic partnership. She said South Africa is ready to work closely with China to maintain their high-level exchange of visits, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and enhance coordination and cooperation in international affairs so as to play a constructive role in handling African hotspot issues.