The Sunday Mail
Last Friday, China celebrated the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Asian nation. The country enjoys good cooperation with Zimbabwe in various sectors. In marking the day in Zimbabwe, the Chinese Embassy in Harare took time to highlight some of the major achievements between Zimbabwe and China. Zimbabwe, a country in Southern Africa, boasts time-honoured history, splendid civilisation, breathtaking scenery, enchanting cultural heritage and abundant natural resources.
It was once the cradle of civilisation in Southern Africa. It boasts the third biggest fall in the world and the great Zimbabwean ruins that have seen the ancient kingdom rise and fall.
The Zimbabwean people are hardworking, creative, courageous and strong-willed. They have all along been committed to upholding national independence and revitalisation and building a stronger African continent through unity.
They have persevered in their endeavour despite twists and turns, just as the stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. China and Zimbabwe, in spite of the vast distance between them, have shared a traditional friendship that runs deep and firm.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping has put it, the China-Zimbabwe traditional friendship was forged in the glorious war against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony.
During the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe, the Chinese people steadfastly stood behind the Zimbabwean people as comrades in arms. Since 1963, China provided Zimbabwean liberation fighters with moral and material support, and helped train about 15 000 freedom fighters and 240 military officials.
It was on the very day that Zimbabwe gained independence, 18 April 1980, when our two countries established diplomatic relations. Ever since then, our friendship has stood the test of time and grown stronger day by day.
Over the past 36 years, our two peoples have stood with each other through thick and thin, and enjoyed strong friendship and fruitful cooperation. In August 2014, President Mugabe paid a successful state visit to China.
The two sides agreed to be good friends, good partners and good brothers who treat each other as equals and support each other for win-win cooperation and common development.
This agreement has provided a vital guidance for the growth of China-Zimbabwe relations. In December 2015, President Xi Jinping paid a historical state visit to Zimbabwe, lifting the bilateral relations to a new height.
The two nations signed 10 co-operative documents worthy of more than US$1 billion covering such key sectors as infrastructure, telecommunications, financing, and wildlife protection.
The deals include donation of a new Parliament building and a pharmaceutical warehouse, Telone Backbone Network and Broadband Access Project, financing for the expansion of Hwange Power Station, and handover of wildlife protection equipment, etc.
Now the new Parliament building has finished tendering of design. The working groups from China and Zimbabwe have jointly finished the design and on-site inspection, and construction will begin next year.
In the near future, a beautiful new Parliament building will be overlooking Harare. The Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Team of Harare Pharmaceutical Warehouse Project has finished the inspection work and signed the conference minutes with the Ministry of Health of Zimbabwe.
A new pharmaceutical warehouse will play a vital role in promoting Zimbabwe’s public health. China is also actively carrying out cooperation with Zimbabwe in energy and ICT infrastructure development.
The Kariba South Hydro-power Station Expansion Project is going well, and is expected to be completed in early 2018. The Hwange Power Station Expansion project is now waiting for the final stage of disbursement verification.
When completed, this project will lighten up Zimbabwe, with the power generation being not only self-sufficient, but also enough to export to the neighbouring countries. Chinese investment in ICT will help connect Zimbabwean users with 4G broadband technology.
The TelOne communication project has entered the final phase of disbursement. The NetOne-Huawei project has signed the third phase agreement and will take off next year.
When finished, this US$485 million project will cover 10 million Zimbabwean users. With the remarkable progress in infrastructure development, we have every reason to believe that those projects will pave way for the economic revitalisation of Zimbabwe.
In spite of the promising prospects of Zimbabwe, the recent El Nino phenomenon, the strongest one in recent decades, has had a devastating effect on food security in Zimbabwe and other countries in Southern Africa. The severe drought has caused crop failure and seriously affected livestock production.
According to reports, as many as 4 million Zimbabwean people are in need of food aid.
It is against this background that China this year will provide 19,700 metric tons of rice worth US$24,6 million to help Zimbabwe cope with the food shortage caused by drought, in addition to the five consignments of emergency food assistance for Zimbabwe in recent years. 5500 tons of rice has already arrived in Harare, with the rest being expected to arrive by the end of this year. China will also donate 10, 000 tons of urea to Zimbabwe, and try its best to make sure it reaches the farmers before the 2016/2017 farming season begins.
This year, the Chinese government provided US$1,6 million worth of meteorological equipment to Zimbabwe Meteorological Services Department to put in place an early warning system of extreme weather and natural disasters in Zimbabwe.
It is because China appreciates the importance of food security that we understand the desire of the Zimbabwean Government to realize self-sufficiency in grain production and ensure food security.
It is our ardent hope that these combined efforts will help Zimbabwe tide over difficulties, boost agricultural production and unleash further potential in agricultural development.
In addition, the socio-economic cooperation between China and Zimbabwe has also taken root and sprouted in the heart of our two peoples.
The past year has seen flourishing people-to-people and cultural exchanges. According to Zimbabwean Government officials, Chinese tourists coming to Zimbabwe rose by 32 percent in the first half of 2016.
The Chinese New Year Reception and the Chinese Cultural Fair, the “Rhythm of Chinese Folk Music” Concert presented by the Jiangsu Folk Music Orchestra, as well as the “Night of Chinese Kung Fu” martial art and acrobatic performance, all presented grand cultural feasts for Zimbabwean audiences, giving them a glimpse to the mysterious Chinese culture.
The Dream Star Talent Show has provided opportunities for 3000 Zimbabwean young people to stand out and realize their dreams.
“The Chinese Ambassador Cup” China-Zimbabwe Table Tennis Friendly Match provided a wonderful opportunity for Chinese and Zimbabwean players to get to know each other, enhance mutual understanding and forge closer friendship.
The Confucius Institute III Zimbabwe has admitted over 700 Zimbabwean students every year. The Zimbabwean competitor Di Zhe has won the first prize in the finals of “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students this year.
In the education sector, the Chinese government provides more than 100 scholarships to local students to study in China every year.
Also, thousands of Zimbabweans have taken training courses in China in recent years under the Chinese Government sponsorship.
The Chinese side has also donated quite a few primary and secondary schools to Zimbabwe, including Amai Mugabe Junior School in Mazowe, China-Zimbabwe Friendship School in Bindura, China-Zimbabwe Friendly Primary School in Lupane and the Sino-Zimbabwe Friendship High School in Hatcliffe, etc.
The Chinese businesses and communities here in Zimbabwe have also joined hands with the Chinese government to promote educational and cultural exchange between China and Zimbabwe.
The Chinese mothers’ group in Zimbabwe called “Love in Africa” have brought care and warmth to local orphans and helped build the Hosanna Love in Africa Children’s Home.
The Chinese businesses have set up many scholarships for Zimbabwean rural students, built school blocks, made donations to local schools and orphanages, and provided training opportunities to employees. For example, Huawei launched the “Seeds for the Future” Program to train Zimbabwean employees in Beijing.
The Qingdao Hengshun Zhongsheng Company sponsored the Presidential Scholarship Program and President Mugabe gave a speech during the Scholarship Awarding Ceremony.
Such concrete actions are powerful examples of China-Zimbabwe friendship and by doing so, we are sowing seeds that will benefit even the future generations of Zimbabwe.
The extraordinary development of China-Zimbabwe relations over the past year could not have been achieved without the concerted efforts from both sides.
It shows that we both value sincerity and friendship, we both adhere to the basic principles of independence and mutual respect and we both pursue the common mission to grow the economy and improve people’s livelihood.
As China and Zimbabwe are now both pursuing their dreams of great national revitalization, it is high time that we translate our economic complementarities into more tangible outcomes of co-operation, carry out more exchanges on guidelines of development and take our practical cooperation to a new level.
In this great endeavour, the Chinese Embassy led by H.E. Ambassador, Huang Ping will continue to do everything it can to promote friendship between our two countries, explore new opportunities for cooperation in all areas and deliver more benefits to our two peoples.
As a Zimbabwe idiom goes, “chikuni chimwe hachikodzi sadza”, Chinese people also believe that “when everybody adds firewood into the bonfire, the flames will rise high.”
We are convinced that with the dedicated cultivation of the Chinese and Zimbabwean leadership and peoples, the flower of China-Zimbabwe friendship and cooperation will blossom with even greater splendour.
