China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
have had a close, but chequered, relationship since the latter's independence.
History
China–Zimbabwe relations date back to January 1979, during the
Rhodesian Bush War
The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia).
The conflict pitted three for ...
. The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
supported
Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Matabeleland politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's ...
's
Zimbabwe African People's Union
The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with the Zim ...
, and supplied them with arms;
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...
's attempts to gain Soviet support for his
Zimbabwe African National Union
The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant organisation that Rhodesian Bush War, fought against White people in Zimbabwe, white minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). ZANU sp ...
were rebuffed, leading him to enter into relations with
Soviet rival Beijing, culminating in a January 1979 meeting in
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
in which both sides affirmed their intent to cooperate more closely.
The two countries formally established diplomatic relations on 18 April 1980, the day of Zimbabwe's independence.
Two months later, Zimbabwe's foreign minister
Simon Muzenda
Simon Vengai Muzenda (28 October 1922 – 20 September 2003) was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2003 under President Robert Mugabe.
Early life and ed ...
visited Beijing to express his thanks; he was followed by
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe himself the next year.
Mugabe placed great importance on Zimbabwe's relations with China, especially after the 2003 standoff with the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
resulted in
capital flight
Capital flight, in economics, occurs when assets or money rapidly flow out of a country, due to an event of economic consequence or as the result of a political event such as regime change or economic globalization. Such events could be an increas ...
and economic depression.
Ties have deepened inline with Zimbabwe's political isolation from the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
; China has been described as the "only major international supporter" of Zimbabwe, due to their principle of non-interference in internal affairs such as human rights issues.
However, there are increasing signs that China remain apprehensive about their relations with Zimbabwe and prefer to concentrate their political capital on countries with oil reserves.
Chinese leader Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...
did not visit Zimbabwe on his February 2007 tour of southern Africa, though his schedule took him to a number of countries near Zimbabwe, including
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, and
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
.
A delegation of Chinese businessmen did visit Zimbabwe around that time; however, the
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, is Zimbabwe's tourism's governing body formed as an act of parliament and operates under the mandate of the Tourism Act of Zimbabwe (Chapter 14:20) of 1996. It has its headquarters in the main business district of the ...
put up signs with messages in
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
to welcome them. Spokesmen stated that they would hire Chinese translators in the future to avoid such errors.
The Zimbabwean side are also ambivalent about the increasing Chinese influence on the economy; Zimbabweans have complained about the low quality of Chinese goods, including buses.
Nyasha Chikwinya
Nyasha Chikwinya is a Zimbabwean politician with the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front.
Career
She was elected to the House of Assembly in 1995, representing the Harare North constituency, but lost her seat in the 2000 ...
, a spokeswoman for Zanu PF Women's League, asserted that the Chinese had become the most active group in the non-official exchange of foreign currency, ahead of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
ns and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
ns, and called for those who "fueled the foreign currency black market" to be arrested. Robberies aimed at Chinese businessmen are on the rise.
The
2017 coup in Zimbabwe deposed Mugabe. The new
provisional President
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (, US: (); born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Mugabe, he held a se ...
is thought to have a close, if challenging, relationship with China.
Political ties
Zimbabwe's "Look East" policy, which aimed to expand bilateral and trade relations and offer priority to investors from not just China but Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, India, and Russia, has focused increasingly on China, to the exclusion of other countries. It is reported by
Forum on Africa-China Cooperation
Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to:
Common uses
* Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States
* Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city
** Roman Forum, most famous example
*Intern ...
that Mugabe's visit in 2006 is his 11th time visiting China. There are no reported official visits to China by Mugabe in 2008 and 2009. The 12th and 13th visits happened in 2010 and 2011. Mugabe also visited China in August 2014. The People Republic of China's (PRC) stated foreign policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of countries has made them a popular foreign policy partner in Harare.
Human rights
In June 2020, Zimbabwe was one of 53 countries that backed the
Hong Kong national security law
The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. It ...
at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
.
Economic ties
China has become the biggest buyer of Zimbabwean
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, purchasing over 13,000 tonnes of tobacco between January and October 2007. The Zimbabwean trade deficit with China amounted to
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
189 million in the first half of 2007; Zimbabwe exported US$16 million of goods to China.
The Zimbabwean government also purchases large amounts of military hardware from China, including a US$13 million radar system, six
Hongdu JL-8
The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seat intermediate jet trainer and a light attack aircraft designed in the People's Republic of China by China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporatio ...
jet aircraft, twelve
JF-17 Thunder
The CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder ( ur , جے ایف-17 گرج), or FC-1 ''Xiaolong'' (), is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China and the Pakistan Aeronautic ...
fighter aircraft, and 100 military vehicles since June 2004.
The national airline
Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd (operating as Air Zimbabwe) is the national carrier of Zimbabwe, headquartered on the property of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, in Harare. From its hub at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the carr ...
have also increased their recruitment of Chinese-speaking flight attendants and training of existing flight attendants in the Chinese language, and Zimbabwe, since having been added to China's official list of approved tourism destinations, aims to expand the number of Chinese tourists from 10,000 to 25,000.
Trade is often conducted on barter terms due to Zimbabwe's shortage of hard currency. China are especially interested in Zimbabwe's supply of
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
.
In November 2007 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe bought agricultural equipment from several countries, but mostly from the PRC, and distributed the materials through the Agricultural Mechanization Program. Zimbabwe's Road Motor Services, a subsidiary of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, purchased 97 trucks from the
Camco International, a Chinese manufacturing company, on December 30. The trucks consist of 68 North Benz tractor trucks, 16 North Benz delivery trucks, eight triaxle tipper trailers and five fuel tankers, each type of varying carrying capacity. This shipment is expected to replace the trucks currently used by RMS. RMS previously purchased trucks from Camco in February 2006. Acting President
Joseph Msika
Joseph Wilfred Msika (6 December 1923 – 4 August 2009), was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.Sydney Kawadza"VP Msika dies", ''The Herald'', 6 August 2009.
Early life
Msika was born in ...
praised the Chinese government for its continued support in the face of economic sanctions imposed by Western nations.
In 2015, China accounted for the largest share of
foreign direct investment
A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
into Zimbabwe by far (74%).
Chinese development finance to Zimbabwe
From 2000 to 2012, there are approximately 128 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Zimbabwe through various media reports. These projects range from a loan of US$670 million to expand a hydroelectric dam on Lake Kariba, to a US$500 million deal to finance Zimbabwe's local cotton production, or a loan agreement for the provision of agricultural machinery to Zimbabwean farmers. In 2016 the PRC forgave US$40 million in debt.
Culture ties
On January 6, 2010, the Chinese government announced plans to award scholarships to 32 students from Zimbabwe to study in China. The scholarship program was announced by the Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Xin Shunkang.
Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China's Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection
/ref>
Although originally Chinese firms were exempt from Zimbabwe's indigenisation laws they have increasingly come under pressure by 2016 to grant at least 51 percent ownership in local ventures to black Zimbabweans in accordance with indigenisation policies. The South African-based Institute for Security Studies
The Institute for Security Studies, also known as ISS or ISS Africa (to distinguish itself from other similarly named institutes in other parts of the world), described itself as follows: "an African organisation which aims to enhance human se ...
believes that under the leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
of Chinese leader Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
the PRC's relationship with Zimbabwe has become more distant due to concerns over the long term stability of ZANU-PF rule.
See also
* Zhing-zhong
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Zimbabwe relations
China, Peoples REpublic
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...