The Sunday Mail
Golden Sibanda
RELATIONS between Zimbabwe and China continue to scale dizzy heights after the trade volume between the two nations surged 29 percent to US$2,42 billion last year, with a surplus of US$170 million in favour of Harare, Beijing’s local office has said.
China is also now Zimbabwe’s largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), after Harare attracted US$2,3 billion between 2019 and 2022, representing a staggering 76 percent of the FDI received by the Southern African country.
Trade and investment cooperation between the two long-time friends is estimated to have created more than 50 000 new job opportunities for the people of Zimbabwe, at a time when the country is battling to overcome the impact of the Western economic embargo that has been in place for over two decades.
After repossessing land from white former farmers at the turn of the millennium to resettle the landless black majority, Zimbabwe has received little financial support from most Washington-controlled multilateral lenders, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Similarly, due to the Western sanctions, FDI has been sparse.
While the economic embargo imposed by Britain and the United States, among other countries, almost brought the economy to its knees, China stood by Zimbabwe unconditionally, providing political, economic and financial support under the Look East Policy.
Harare also received significant support for infrastructure development under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This has seen the development of key infrastructure that includes airports, power plants and the new Parliament building.
The all-weather friendship between the two countries transcends politics, trade, investment and economics. It also covers other important areas of social interaction, including people-to-people programmes such as cultural exchanges.
It is not difficult to see why, by “Looking East”, Harare made the right decision.
Victor Gao — the former translator to the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and vice president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, and widely perceived as the spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party — made it starkly clear earlier this year.
He told a British journalist in an interview, responding to a question about Beijing’s perception of London, that China was a “megatrend” many countries, including Britain, should not ignore nor afford to antagonise, but rather get along with in friendship and peace.
Megatrends are general directions that have an effect on a global scale.
Gao said the following: “China is the largest manufacturer of automobiles”, “the largest exporter of EV (electrical vehicle) cars and will lead the whole world in EV production”, “the biggest and most important producer and R&D (research and development) in terms of semiconductor in no time” and “China will be the leading nation in AI (artificial intelligence) revolution”.
Official data from the Chinese Embassy in Harare shows that unimpeded trade volumes between the two friendly nations have grown substantially over the past few years due to deliberate efforts of the two governments.
“On unimpeded trade, with the concerted efforts of the governments and enterprises, our trade volume increased by 29 percent to US$2,42 billion, with US$170 million of surplus for Zimbabwe. The first shipment of Zimbabwean citrus is now in the Chinese market.
“The ‘green lanes’ for Zimbabwean agricultural products, including blueberry and dried chilli, are beckoning,” the embassy said.
Several Chinese enterprises have invested across Zimbabwe’s economy — including in the mining of iron ore and lithium, and tobacco processing, as well as crop farming, building material manufacturing and freight and logistics.
“These investments revitalise resources that were long idled by Western companies, and introduce Zimbabwe’s high-quality products into international markets. They also bring hundreds of millions of tax revenues, more than 50 000 job opportunities, as well as technology transfers and good practices in management”.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava last year told a symposium to assess the impact of Chinese investments in Zimbabwe that Harare had witnessed huge growth in investments by the Chinese government and its private sector ever since President Xi Jinping’s State visit in 2015.
“Our progressive investment laws have generated a conducive environment in support of investment inflows,” Minister Shava said.
China has also supported several key infrastructure development projects under BRI, proposed by the Asian nation’s leader in 2013, together with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative.
The initiatives are designed to achieve common prosperity and strengthen cooperation by promoting cross-border interconnectivity.
They are conducive to policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure and facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration and closer people-to-people ties.
“Focusing on building a Healthy Silk Road, a Green Silk Road, a Digital and Innovative Silk Road, the initiatives have been a popular global public good covering primarily Asia, Africa and Europe, and stays open to all countries.
“It is an international public good provided by China, and an initiative for development, cooperation and openness,” the embassy said.
“In 2018, China and Zimbabwe signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) on the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past five years, the in-depth cooperation between our two countries has been profound and fruitful”.
Against this background, China has aided the construction of well-known projects such as the new Parliament building, the national pharmaceutical warehouse and the high-performance computing centre, as well as the 1 000 borehole drilling project.
The Victoria Falls International Airport upgrade, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport expansion, the Kariba South Power Station expansion, the Hwange Power Station expansion (Units 7 and 8) and phase III of NetOne’s mobile broadband upgrade were also supported by the Chinese government.
These major infrastructure projects promote Zimbabwe’s development and make life better for its people.
Further, on the policy coordination front, China said it firmly supports Zimbabwe in the attainment of Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy 1, and closely coordinates with Zimbabwe in determining priorities for bilateral cooperation.
China also shares its experience in State governance with Zimbabwe.
Since 2016, China and Zimbabwe have conducted annual exchange visits for macroeconomic policy coordination and training courses.
“This year, we will continue to invite Zimbabwean economic officials to visit China and exchange opinions there,” the embassy added.
On the people-to-people bond, since 2018, more than 5 000 Government officials and technicians have been welcomed to participate in training courses organised by China, and around 3 000 Zimbabwean students have pursued their studies in the Asian country.
“It is anticipated that in the future, an increasing number of outstanding Zimbabwean students will choose China for their education destination and more Zimbabweans will visit China for business and tourism,” the embassy said.
