Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Harare on Tuesday on a two-day state visit as Zimbabwean officials, including President Robert Mugabe, are warming up to investment opportunities from the world’s fastest-growing economy.
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Speaking at a banquet hosted for the Chinese leader and his delegation last night, shortly after signing several agreements among them a $1.4 billion deal for upgrading the Hwange Thermal Power station, Mr. Mugabe said he was excited significant progress had been made in the implementation of projects agreed between China and Zimbabwe.
Chinese-built roads, bridges and power installations are found across Africa, often paid for in resources or through loans from China that must eventually be repaid.
He is expected to hold talks with President Jacob Zuma before co-chairing an economic summit on China-Africa cooperation. While China’s goal is to realise the dream of great national rejuvenation, Zimbabwe’s is to achieve economic independence and self-reliant, sustainable development, Xi said in the article.
“China is the largest developing country and Africa is home to the biggest number of developing countries”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, reviewsan honor guard during a…
Calling China an “all-weather” friend of Zimbabwe, Mugabe said his country hopes to learn from China’s experience in socioeconomic development, receive more assistance from China and expand bilateral cooperation in such fields as agriculture, industry and infrastructure.
China and South Africa should strengthen partnership in various aspects, Xi noted, calling on the two countries to be forward-looking strategic partners with strong mutual trust, development partners pursuing equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, friendly partners who understand and learn from each other, and global partners who support and coordinate closely with each other.
The aim of the summit is to deepen China-Africa relations in every aspect.
“Such initiatives are a clear departure from Beijing’s aversion to military or security intervention in Africa”, said Mr Lyle Morris, a project associate at RAND Corp, citing in particular the military assistance Mr Xi pledged in September.
Some observers see competition among China and other world powers, such as the United States, for African resources and African support.
China-South Africa relations have developed across the board since they established diplomatic ties 17 years ago.
Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe’s minister of finance and economic development, said infrastructure remains the fundamental challenge to unleashing the country’s potential. “We are exploring new models for financing”, he said.
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To those who might be alarmed at the slowdown of the Chinese economy, Wang gave the assurance that China still expected to import over 10 trillion USA dollars worth of goods, invest over 500 billion U.S. dollars overseas, and see more than 500 million Chinese tourists travel abroad over the next five years.
