Yet President Robert Mugabe, who presided over the signing of the 10 investment deals together with Xi at the official State House in Harare last night, showed no concern about China’s investment philosophy.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in South Africa on Wednesday for talks with President Jacob Zuma that are expected to focus on flagging investment and trade worth around $20 billion a year.
The International Cooperation Centre – National Development Reform Commission of China’s director general Cao Wenlian on Monday told a China-Zimbabwe Business Forum that it was considering putting Zimbabwe on priority list of African countries that Beijing targets for investment, alongside Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa.
One of the agreements signed on Wednesday included a loan agreement between the China Development Bank Corporation and South Africa’s state-owned energy provider Eskom, it said.
The orphanage, on a farm taken from an old white farming couple by Grace Mugabe 11 years ago, has become a “must-see” for important foreign visitors to Zimbabwe.
There are already more than 100 Chinese companies investing in Zimbabwe, said Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, “and there is a lot of interest in all sectors of the economy from Chinese investors”.
In a bylined article published in the local newspaper the Herald, Xi touted the close ties with Zimbabwe as being “a cornerstone” of China’s foreign policy, despite constant and complex changes in the worldwide landscape.
And there is far less investment from Beijing into Zimbabwe than into any of its neighbours, such as Zambia, Mozambique and Angola.
Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a five-day African visit on Tuesday that he’ll use to showcase China’s expanding role as a protector of regional security, as well as a provider of infrastructure and consumer of resources.
Xi may have to spend some time on this trip reassuring African leaders that trade relations will remain strong, said Aubrey Hruby, a Washington D.C.-based economist. Zimbabwe’s economy is struggling to emerge from a recession between 1999-2008, which saw gross domestic product shrink by 45 percent.
“I think that we’re all in the same boat if you’re a producer in the global economy”, said South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies.
Ahead of a state visit to South Africa, the Chinese president suggested both sides should always advance the bilateral relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective and continuously cement and enhance political mutual trust.
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“Although this approach has precipitated some benefit to African countries, including Zimbabwe, the advantage is often squarely in China’s favour”. He will join African leaders for the summit due on Friday and Saturday.
