Pretoria - Science and Technology Deputy Minister Derek Hanekom is leading a high-powered South African delegation to China to strengthen partnerships between China and South Africa in the field of radio astronomy.
His programme includes meeting with his counterpart, the Vice Minister of Science and Technology Cao Jianlin and meeting with the African ambassadors of the SKA partner countries, the business community and the science community.
South Africa is bidding to host the SKA.
China is one of seven countries that have recently joined the SKA Organisation and is represented by the National Astronomical Observatory of China, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The move by China to join the SKA Organisation is in recognition of the scientific and economic benefits that a mega-science project of this magnitude can bring to participating countries.
As a member of the signatories, China has voting rights on the SKA site selection decision.
Apart from South Africa and Australia, other signatories include Italy, New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands and of course China.
"Africa's commitment to radio astronomy means that there are rich opportunities for mutually-beneficial South African-Chinese science and industry partnerships, and these are not limited to the SKA project," said Hanekom.
"This is not about lobbying. We have full confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the SKA Organisation's site selection process and the independent scientific and technical evaluation process of course remains paramount. At the same time, we are eager to foster cooperation with strategic partners such as China," he said.
At an estimated construction cost of $2, 23 billion, the SKA is poised to be by far the largest radio telescope in the world.
Should Africa be selected as host for the SKA, the core of the telescope will be located in Carnarvon, Northern Cape, with about three antenna stations in Namibia, four in Botswana, and one each on Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Zambia. Each station will consist of about 30 individual antennae.
