43 years on, China remains Zimbabwe’s all-weather friend

On April 18, Zimbabwe celebrated its 43rd independence anniversary. The Southern African country won its liberation primarily through a people’s war, known as Chimurenga, that defeated British colonial and white racist rule. This liberation struggle was strongly supported by China and a number of other countries.

Marking this anniversary, the Xinhua News Agency, in an article we reprint below, quoted Christopher Mutsvangwa, Secretary for Information and Publicity of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which played the main role in the liberation struggle, as saying that, after standing firmly with Zimbabwe in its struggle for national independence and liberation, China has been playing an important role in the country’s economic transformation by investing in its key economic pillars such as mining, agriculture and infrastructure. “This is probably the most exciting time just like in the 1960s and 1970s when China’s arrival gave an option to the liberation movements to fight for their freedom.”

He added that, through Chinese investment in infrastructure, Zimbabwe will be transformed into a regional trade hub, citing the Chinese-funded expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the country’s largest, as an example.

As Zimbabwe is celebrating its Independence Day on Tuesday, experts have praised China for having been the African country’s all-weather friend for more than four decades.

After standing firmly with Zimbabwe in its struggle for national independence and liberation, China has been playing an important role in the country’s economic transformation by investing in its key economic pillars such as mining, agriculture and infrastructure, said Christopher Mutsvangwa, secretary for information and publicity for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union party.

He said Chinese modernization has created opportunities for African countries including Zimbabwe.

“This is probably the most exciting time just like in the 1960s and 1970s when China’s arrival gave an option to the liberation movements to fight for their freedom,” Mutsvangwa told Xinhua, adding that Zimbabwe’s victory against colonial forces would have been unthinkable without Chinese support.

“Now this has moved into the economic era where the world markets have become flat so that if you are not happy with the price in New York you can always try Shanghai,” he said.

Mutsvangwa further said through Chinese investment in infrastructure, Zimbabwe will be transformed into a regional trade hub.

For example, the Chinese-funded expansion of Zimbabwe’s largest airport — the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport — is due for completion in 2023. The upgrade will allow the airport to grow its passenger handling capacity to about 6 million a year from the current 2.5 million.

Hopewell Mupanganyama, chairman for the youth desk in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, praised China for standing with African countries in their quest for national independence and liberation.

“Around the 1970s, though China was classified to be a poor country of Asia in terms of development,” it “made sure” that it assisted “Africa to dismantle colonialism,” Mupanganyama said, adding that China now once again stands at the forefront of transforming African economies through investment and trade.

Over the years, China and Zimbabwe have kept boosting economic and trade ties. Trade between the two countries surged nearly 30 percent year-on-year to a record high of 2.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe said.

One thought on “43 years on, China remains Zimbabwe’s all-weather friend”

  1. I am from Vancouver,Canada and i got good memories of the 1970s. Revolutions were everywhere and i taught back then that a new world was near. I didn’t think back then that Revolutions had its ups and downs before the people got what they wanted. I can see that now. Sanctions slows Revolutions down but they continue despite that. I remembers hearing about Rhodesia back then. British Mercenaries were in a hurry to go to Rhodesia to make big money they were told to fight for Rhodesia. They found out the hard way that it was a lie. The British Mercenaries didn’t know what they were fighting for but the people living in Rhodesia at the time knew what they were fighting for and that is why the British lost and Zimbabwe won. The same thing is happening in Ukraine today. There are British Mercenaries there also along with many others from different countries. Their faith will be the same as the British back in Rhodesia. It is like a scene from the Twilight Zone. The Cubans, Nicaraguans and Zimbabweans knew what they were fighting for and as a result of that they won the battle.

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