Chinese President Visit Deepens Ties Between our Two Nations |OPINION
6 December 2015
Leaders sign raft of new agreements as Zimbabwe looks for more collaboration with China
By Ambassador Mike Nicholas Sango
President Xi Jinping’s visit to Zimbabwe marked a continued strengthening of political, economic and cultural relations that have already seen China become the country’s biggest investor and largest export market outside Africa.
President Xi Jinping’s visit to Zimbabwe marked a continued strengthening of political, economic and cultural relations that have already seen China become the country’s biggest investor and largest export market outside Africa.
Enthusiastic crowds joined President Robert Mugabe in welcoming Xi to the capital, Harare, where he signed $4 billion worth of business and commercial deals with the government.
One of the biggest agreements involves a Chinese commitment to improve Zimbabwe’s power generation system.
This will take the form of a $1.2 billion loan from China’s Export-Import Bank to modernize and expand the Hwange thermal power plant, the country’s largest. China is also helping to increase the capacity of the Kariba South power plant, the country’s second-largest electric power generating facility, by an additional 360 megawatts.
A reliable energy system is crucial to any nation’s economic and social prosperity, so the importance of China’s commitment to helping us generate power across Zimbabwe 24/7 cannot be overstated.
In addition to the Hwange and Kariba power plant deals, Xi signed construction and communications agreements with Zimbabwean officials and business leaders. He renewed his country’s promise to build a new Zimbabwean parliament building to replace the old, cramped facility our lawmakers are in now.
We appreciate that China began helping us build national facilities many years ago – in the 1980s when our country was newly independent. The first project was our National Sports Stadium.
In 2012, Mugabe officially commissioned the state-of-the-art National Defense College, which was built with assistance from the Chinese. The college is open to military and state officials from member countries of the Southern African Development Community and beyond.
China has also constructed rural hospitals and schools, and hotels, across Zimbabwe, as well as our largest shopping center, the $100 million Mall in Harare.
In addition to providing food aid, China has also contributed to food security by supplying fertilizers for distribution to households.
An exciting deal that was signed on the eve of Xi’s visit to Zimbabwe was a partnership between Chinese mail and parcel delivery service YTO Express and Zimbabwe’s national postal service, Zimpost. Under the agreement, Zimpost will handle all YTO Express deliveries in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.
China has already committed billions of dollars to helping build a cement factory and developing our coal, platinum, chrome and diamond mining sectors. This commitment will transform these sectors from raw-material exporters to local value adders, transferring technology and creating local employment.
Beyond the economic arena, Chinese and Zimbabwean officials have agreed to collaborate on cultural exchange programs and wildlife protection.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa says economic relations between China and Zimbabwe are expanding rapidly: “More than 100 Chinese companies have already invested in Zimbabwe, and there is a lot of interest in all sectors of the economy.”
Zimbabwe has been working tirelessly to remove unattractive and outdated statutes and regulations to make it easier to do business and create an investment climate conducive to investors.
Chinese investment in Zimbabwe reached $601 million in 2013, making it China’s largest investment in Africa that year. Moreover, bilateral trade surpassed $1.2 billion last year and is poised to grow further this year and beyond.
Lin Lin, a former Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, says a key reason for the burgeoning economic relations is that “both nations are promoting the establishment of a new international political and economic order that is more fair and reasonable”.
Russia, which also believes there should be a new world order, has recently accelerated its economic relations with Zimbabwe – a move that is most welcome.
The fact is that many world leaders view the current global political and economic system as skewed in favor of developed countries in the West at the expense of developing countries, especially in Africa, a trend that has remained unchanged since 1885.
In addition to strengthening bilateral economic relations, Xi’s visit also deepened the personal friendship he has with Mugabe. When Mugabe visited Beijing in August last year, Xi hailed him as “a renowned leader of the African national liberation movement” and “an old friend of the Chinese people whom we respect very much”.
China began supporting African liberation movements that sought to throw off the yoke of colonialism in the 1950s.
Zimbabwe’s relations with China date to the liberation struggle of the ’70s, when the Chinese, together with the Soviet Union, provided arms to Zimbabwean freedom fighters and trained some of the movement’s leaders. We will never forget that support.
The friendship between China and Zimbabwe “was forged in the glorious years when we stood shoulder to shoulder against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony”, Xi said when Mugabe visited Beijing last year. “The Chinese people value friendship, and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China, and who have come through thick and thin with us.”
Mugabe, who was making his 13th trip to China, responded that he felt very much at home in the country.
Given the warm friendship between Xi and Mugabe, and the fact that the Chinese and Zimbabwean economies do not compete and are complementary to each other, we believe that political and economic relations with China can only soar to new heights in coming years.
Brigadier General Mike Nicholas Sango is Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation. He can be followed on Twitter at: @ZimAmbRu.
One of the biggest agreements involves a Chinese commitment to improve Zimbabwe’s power generation system.
This will take the form of a $1.2 billion loan from China’s Export-Import Bank to modernize and expand the Hwange thermal power plant, the country’s largest. China is also helping to increase the capacity of the Kariba South power plant, the country’s second-largest electric power generating facility, by an additional 360 megawatts.
A reliable energy system is crucial to any nation’s economic and social prosperity, so the importance of China’s commitment to helping us generate power across Zimbabwe 24/7 cannot be overstated.
In addition to the Hwange and Kariba power plant deals, Xi signed construction and communications agreements with Zimbabwean officials and business leaders. He renewed his country’s promise to build a new Zimbabwean parliament building to replace the old, cramped facility our lawmakers are in now.
We appreciate that China began helping us build national facilities many years ago – in the 1980s when our country was newly independent. The first project was our National Sports Stadium.
In 2012, Mugabe officially commissioned the state-of-the-art National Defense College, which was built with assistance from the Chinese. The college is open to military and state officials from member countries of the Southern African Development Community and beyond.
China has also constructed rural hospitals and schools, and hotels, across Zimbabwe, as well as our largest shopping center, the $100 million Mall in Harare.
In addition to providing food aid, China has also contributed to food security by supplying fertilizers for distribution to households.
An exciting deal that was signed on the eve of Xi’s visit to Zimbabwe was a partnership between Chinese mail and parcel delivery service YTO Express and Zimbabwe’s national postal service, Zimpost. Under the agreement, Zimpost will handle all YTO Express deliveries in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.
China has already committed billions of dollars to helping build a cement factory and developing our coal, platinum, chrome and diamond mining sectors. This commitment will transform these sectors from raw-material exporters to local value adders, transferring technology and creating local employment.
Beyond the economic arena, Chinese and Zimbabwean officials have agreed to collaborate on cultural exchange programs and wildlife protection.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa says economic relations between China and Zimbabwe are expanding rapidly: “More than 100 Chinese companies have already invested in Zimbabwe, and there is a lot of interest in all sectors of the economy.”
Zimbabwe has been working tirelessly to remove unattractive and outdated statutes and regulations to make it easier to do business and create an investment climate conducive to investors.
Chinese investment in Zimbabwe reached $601 million in 2013, making it China’s largest investment in Africa that year. Moreover, bilateral trade surpassed $1.2 billion last year and is poised to grow further this year and beyond.
Lin Lin, a former Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, says a key reason for the burgeoning economic relations is that “both nations are promoting the establishment of a new international political and economic order that is more fair and reasonable”.
Russia, which also believes there should be a new world order, has recently accelerated its economic relations with Zimbabwe – a move that is most welcome.
The fact is that many world leaders view the current global political and economic system as skewed in favor of developed countries in the West at the expense of developing countries, especially in Africa, a trend that has remained unchanged since 1885.
In addition to strengthening bilateral economic relations, Xi’s visit also deepened the personal friendship he has with Mugabe. When Mugabe visited Beijing in August last year, Xi hailed him as “a renowned leader of the African national liberation movement” and “an old friend of the Chinese people whom we respect very much”.
China began supporting African liberation movements that sought to throw off the yoke of colonialism in the 1950s.
Zimbabwe’s relations with China date to the liberation struggle of the ’70s, when the Chinese, together with the Soviet Union, provided arms to Zimbabwean freedom fighters and trained some of the movement’s leaders. We will never forget that support.
The friendship between China and Zimbabwe “was forged in the glorious years when we stood shoulder to shoulder against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony”, Xi said when Mugabe visited Beijing last year. “The Chinese people value friendship, and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China, and who have come through thick and thin with us.”
Mugabe, who was making his 13th trip to China, responded that he felt very much at home in the country.
Given the warm friendship between Xi and Mugabe, and the fact that the Chinese and Zimbabwean economies do not compete and are complementary to each other, we believe that political and economic relations with China can only soar to new heights in coming years.
Brigadier General Mike Nicholas Sango is Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation. He can be followed on Twitter at: @ZimAmbRu.