Qian Qichen opens embassy in South Africa

Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen on Thursday opened China's embassy in the South African capital Pretoria, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two countries established diplomatic ties at ambassadorial level starting today under a joint communique signed by Qian and South African Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo on Tuesday.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.