Many were surprised when Chinese President Xi Jinping suddenly, and at nearly the last minute, chose to go to Harare on an official visit this week, as this trip was not on his diary earlier in the year.
Advertisement
On Wednesday Xi will conduct a short State visit to South Africa before he and South African President Jacob Zuma co-chair the summit of the Forum for China- Africa Cooperation (Focac) in Johannesburg later in the week.
The two leaders are expected to oversee the signing of agreements by their ministers in the areas of communication, aviation, transport and infrastructure funding. Trade was valued at over $201 billion past year, a sharp rise from just $10.6 billion in 2000. In response, President Xi who was speaking through an interpreter, said China placed high premium to its relations with Zimbabwe. “As a trade union or as workers, we have not seen much from our Chinese colleagues”, he said. This followed President Mugabe’s successful 13th State visit to China in August previous year, where another set of nine mega deals was signed with the world’s second largest economy after the US.
Statistics from the Zimbabwe Investment Authority revealed that in 2014 China contributed over $200 million of Zimbabwe’s total FDI of $543 million.
Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off his five-day Africa tour from Zimbabwe Tuesday, receiving a warm welcome in the African nation that counts China as its biggest foreign investor.
Cao said China was working with a team in the financial services sector on the circulation of the Chinese currency, yuan in Zimbabwe and may consider developing models such as the Ethiopian one, where China gives credit and the country may pay back in tobacco for instance.
“We want to build it into a model for relationships between China and other emerging economies”, Xi said at a media conference following the talks.
Apart from deals signed yesterday, China has provided credit worth millions of dollars to fund several capital projects in the country, including the expansion of the Kariba South power station, upgrading of the Harare’s water and sanitation works and the expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport.
The security moves help China counter questions about its commitment to Africa’s long-term development after complaints about the fairness of deals trading resources for infrastructure and the level of local labor used by the more than 2,500 Chinese companies on the continent.
Advertisement
While Beijing has traditionally maintained a policy of non-interference, staying out of Africa’s political affairs, its decision to establish a permanent representative at the African Union’s headquarters in Ethiopia may signal stronger political interaction, the South African Institute of International Affairs said.
