Percy Zvumoya
Johannesburg - A British diplomatic source in Harare has described reports that China is scaling down its presence in Zimbabwe as a "gross exaggeration". He was responding to reports carried in the Daily Telegraph in which the British Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown - on a visit to China - is as quoted saying that China, Zimbabwe's chief ally on the United Nations Security Council, is cutting down its aid, limiting it only to humanitarian needs. "I was told Chinese assistance to Zimbabwe was now limited to humanitarian assistance, which is enormously important," Malloch Brown said. "That puts it in the same position as Britain, which is the second-biggest provider of humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe."
However, the Chinese embassy in Harare was quick to dismiss the statement as unfounded. "The embassy of China in Zimbabwe wishes to clarify that this is simply not the fact. China and Zimbabwe enjoy a long history of friendship," an embassy spokesperson said. The official said that during last April's visit to Zimbabwe by Jia Qinglin, a Chinese official, China promised to build two primary schools, a hospital and an agriculture training centre and to provide funds to renovate the National Sports Stadium, Zimbabwe's biggest stadium - a facility the Chinese built in the 1980s. He said China was actually delivering on those promises. China also committed to providing 40-million tonnes of soya beans to Zimbabwe.
However, Garth le Pere, executive director at the Institute for Global Dialogue, said China has been scaling down its involvement in Zimbabwe. "That has been the trend since 2005," he said. China has moved in to fill the vacuum left by the West and has signed a number of agreements and secured several trade deals, including supplying a fleet of buses to the state transport utility, Zupco, aircraft to AirZim and fighter aircraft to Zimbabwe's air force. Le Pere pointed out that China is "pragmatic" and always ensures that "the spirit and letter of the agreements are mutually beneficial". He said 90% of China's imports from Zimbabwe consists of tobacco; other imports are minerals, such as chrome and iron.
"A range of factors has soured the bilateral relationship," Le Pere said, pointing out that thousands of textile workers in Zimbabwe have lost their jobs because of cheap Chinese imports. He said the joint venture that established a cement manufacturing company in Gweru has suffered because of poor infrastructure, energy and transport problems. Le Pere said China's involvement in Africa is propelled by its own economic interests, which are the basis of any political engagements. There is a growing realisation that the agreements that have been entered into have not borne fruit, largely because of the economic crisis, he said, describing the relationship as "unpredictable". Although China has a policy of non-interference in sovereign states "it can't turn a blind eye to what is going on", Le Pere said. However, he argued, if the security council proposed sanctions against Zimbabwe, China would veto the move.
Christopher Burke, a research fellow at Stellenbosch University's Centre for Chinese Studies, doubted whether China had changed its policy toward Zimbabwe. He said none of the Chinese government officials he has been in contact with is aware of a change in the government's policy toward Zimbabwe. Burke said much of the trade between China and Zimbabwe is conducted using barter and exchange, a form of commerce that requires a "high degree of goodwill". "I do not expect we will see any significant changes in Beijing's policy toward Harare," Burke said. When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Southern Africa at the beginning of the year he made stops in Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique, but did not stop over in Harare.
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