Johannesburg — FIFTY South African high schools will soon teach Mandarin, the most widely spoken language in China, after an agreement reached during Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's recent visit to that country.

China's growing global influence made learning the language a sensible thing to do, said Thabang Chiloane, spokesman for Mlambo-Ngcuka.

SA is China's biggest trading partner in Africa , exporting R14bn worth of products to China and importing commodities valued at R47,7bn.

Under the agreement, China would provide the teachers while the education department decides on the logistics, including selecting the schools that will offer Mandarin .

China has 1,31-billion people, so it made sense when looking to the future "to understand a language spoken by a quarter of the world's population," Chiloane said.

The deputy president attended the third meeting of the China-SA binational commission, launched six years ago to strengthen co-operation between the two countries. China and SA also agreed to increase high-level visits and improve consultation on major issues.

The two countries also discussed reducing the trade gap.

"The bottom line is that trade is booming between the two countries," said Peter Draper, a trade research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

SA and China have signed a slew of co-operation agreements, but there is as yet no sign of a trade agreement.

"I do not expect a trade agreement, certainly not a free trade agreement," Draper said. "South Africa is running scared."

Among the issues defining relations has been the dominance of Chinese textiles in SA, posing a threat to the local sector.

Beijing has sought to downplay fears by promising to restrict its textile exports.

But this has been little comfort for the troubled sector.

Draper said China was likely to be concerned that the place of restricted Chinese exports would be taken -- in the South African market -- by Vietnamese and Bangladeshi textiles and clothing.

Meanwhile, 2000 foreign teachers of mathematics and science had been recruited to SA, and had signed contracts with the education department , the SABC reported this week.