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Chinese President Xi Jinping

Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor
The visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Zimbabwe tomorrow, his first and only the second by a Chinese leader, has an eternally feel good vibe about it. The visit is steeped in multi-dimensional significance covering symbolic, historical, diplomatic, political (and geopolitical) and economic facets. Zimbabweans are all familiar with the phrase that Zimbabwe and China “enjoy cordial relations since the days of the liberation struggle”.

Yes, the two countries do enjoy cordial relations as China was one of the biggest supporters of Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence against British colonial rule, a common condition that the two countries suffered as a result of Britain’s extractive imperialism which was characterised by plunder and the dehumanisation, humiliation and subjugation of the local populace.

At Zimbabwe’s liberation in April 1980, China was the first country to establish diplomatic ties with the Southern African nation. The relations between the two countries have evolved as a function of global dynamics that have intervened and today the two countries’ relations stand on the threshold of something new – although strangely familiar.

China is today the second-and-soon-to-be-the-largest global power, something it was not in the 1960s when it set out to help Zimbabwe. The strange familiarity is that Zimbabwe still looks up to China – perhaps for one last time – and is ranged against the same western enemies of yore.

If one were to assume that Zimbabwe has everything to gain from looking up to China, if religiously so under the aegis of the Look East policy, it becomes safe a prism to look at the Chinese President’s visit as something historical and game-changing.

The two countries last year signed a number of mega deals and memoranda of understanding whose finalisation many people have been waiting for, even impatiently. For a country that is in the throes of economic troubles, the impatience over the finalisation of the mega deals, which have been accompanied by no less amount of mega-hype, is understandable.

Zimbabweans have watched with envy and perplexity as China embarked on major projects elsewhere in Africa, which they thought would have come to China’s “all-weather friend” first.

You think of the Mombasa-Kigali Railway Project, whose completion is set for March 2018. According to reports, the project is estimated to cost $1,35 billion and will cover a distance of 2 940 kilometres upon completion. The project started in March 2013 and is being carried out by China Communication and Construction Company and will run from the Port of Malaba, Kampala then Kigali in Rwanda.

Another rail project is the Ethiopia-Djibouti Rail Link worth $2 billion and expected to cover 756 km. The Chinese Exim Bank provided the loan for the electrified railway project, in an agreement signed on 2013.

Various Chinese contractors are involved, including the China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Civil Engineering Construction Cooperation. A particular heartthrob has been Ethiopia’s first fast train which was gifted to them by China.

Al Jazeera reported in October that the $475 million urban rail project – funded by China – is one of “the most obvious examples of Beijing’s huge role in Ethiopia” (and Africa’s) infrastructure development, adding: “The world’s most populous nation has also built dams, roads, and factories in Ethiopia, and even gifted Addis Ababa the African Union headquarters, which cost $200 million.”

Elsewhere, the Mail&Guardian in September listed top 17 Chinese projects on the continent. They are mouthwatering.

They include: Coastal Railway, Nigeria ($12 billion), Lagos-Kano railway project, Nigeria ($8,3 billion), infrastructure for mines barter deal (Sicomines), DR Congo ($7,16 billion) Mini-City, South Africa ($7 billion), Joint Venture between China International Fund and Guinea, Guinea ($7 billion), Joint Venture between China International Fund and Guinea, Guinea ($7 billion) and Deep sea port, Cameroon ($1 billion) among many others across the continent’s four corners.

Zimbabwe does not feature among these mega-projects valued at an average of $4 billion, which is quite puzzling. Things may yet change in the next two days as it is to be expected that Zimbabwe comes to the Chinese party. The visit is a major diplomatic coup.

While the State visit to Beijing by President Mugabe last year may have been viewed with a bit of condescension by the cynics, the return of the favour by the Chinese President is something very significant.

It is diplomatic practice that state visits are reciprocated and now that the Chinese leader is reciprocating and embracing Zimbabwe, which many would want to see as a pariah, the importance of the Chinese visit cannot be overstated. It will be also critical to note that China as a rising global leader has had these reciprocal visits with some big names in the world including Britain.

In October President Xi was in Britain for a four-day State visit where he was feted as a royal.

The Queen described the visit as a “defining moment” and “a milestone in the unprecedented year of co-operation and friendship between the United Kingdom and China”, while Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne have been casting China as Britain’s most important friend.

Osborne even talked of a “golden era” of relations. China is making a strong diplomatic and geopolitical statement. The leadership of Zimbabwe can also pat itself on the back because this visit is by far the most important milestone in its friendship with China and in particular in the evolved relations of the 21st century.

Being on the cusp of such a milestone, it is understandable that the political opposition in the country is not very amused and has sought to downplay the importance of the visit. The spokesperson of the MDC-T, Obert Gutu thinks the visit is a “mere public relations” exercise accusing Beijing of making “empty promises”.

“These so-called mega deals have just remained paper tigers, they have so far dismally failed to resuscitate the comatose Zimbabwean economy,” Gutu is quoted as saying. The rationale is simple in its negativity and the MDC-T’s borrowed hatred of China on behalf of the west.

While the Government does not need to prove anything to the perpetual opposition, the good that will come out of this major coup is the good that is required to shame the devil. Lastly, it has to be remarked from the Chinese leader’s statement ahead of his visit to Harare that China is very keen on its relationship with Zimbabwe on a holistic scale.

China connects with Zimbabwe and its people, who the Asian giant’s leader lauds as having “a time-honoured history, splendid civilisation, picturesque scenery and rich resources” while the people are “more importantly”, “hard-working, creative, courageous and strong-willed.” He praises Zimbabwe’s commitment “to upholding national independence and dignity and building a stronger African continent through unity”.

He acknowledges Zimbabwe’s perseverance “just as the stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe”! He sees Zimbabwe flying higher like a bird caught in a headwind. He knows Zimbabwe and China have a solid foundation from their relations as well as the agreements penned last year.

Now is the time for relations to flourish. “I am convinced that with the dedicated cultivation of the Chinese and Zimbabwean peoples, the flower of China-Zimbabwe friendship will bloom with even brighter splendour,” says the Chinese leader.

The optimism in the air is not misplaced. The leadership that President Mugabe has demonstrated, which has brought the country’s most important visitor in many years and in future, is not lost on the discerning.

It is stuff for his legacy.

For, this visit is forever.