第一个问题，如何评价15年来中南关系的发展？

The first question is: how do we assess the development of this bilateral relationship in the past 15 years?

我认为，可以用三个V来概括：

I think my answers will be around three words starting with the initial letter V, as in victory:

第一个是“VISION”。两国领导人始终以战略眼光审视并推动两国关系发展。两国关系定位从2000年的伙伴关系、到2004年的战略伙伴关系、再到2010年的全面战略伙伴关系，实现了历史性跨越，两国关系层次逐步提升。频繁的高层互访为中南关系发展指明了方向，成为推动两国全方位合作的强大动力。过去15年来，中国历届国家主席、人大委员长、总理等领导人几乎都访问过南非，南非领导人亦多次访华。去年7月，祖马总统访华并出席中非合作论坛第五届部长级会议。今年3月，中国新任国家主席习近平上任伊始就对南非进行了国事访问，并出席了在德班举行的金砖国家领导人第五次会晤。

The first word is Vision. The leaderships of the two countries have always had a strategic vision in reviewing and promoting this relationship. Our relationship has achieved historic leaps and was elevated from partnership in 2000, to strategic partnership in 2004 and to comprehensive strategic partnership in 2010. Frequent high-level exchanges have guided the development of bilateral relations, and have been the strong driving force behind the cooperation in various areas between our two countries. For the past 15 years, almost all successive Chinese leaderships, including Presidents, NPC Chairpersons and Premiers, have visited South Africa. Likewise, many South African leaders visited China on various occasions. In July last year, President Zuma visited China and attended the opening ceremony of the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. And in March this year, the new Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a highly successful state visit to South Africa and attended the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban during his first overseas trip after taking office.