US losing sleep over Sino-Africa manoeuvres President Xi Jinping
President Xi Jinping

President Xi Jinping

Tichaona Nhamo Correspondent
CHINESE President Xi Jinping is on his way to Zimbabwe! This is the greatest news for Zimbabwe given that China has been the greatest all-weather friend of Zimbabwe since the days of the liberation struggle.

Conversely, the visit is akin to spitting in the face of the United States of America and its allies in Western Europe, who do not want anyone, especially a global economic leader like China, to do business with tiny but big-brained and witty Zimbabwe.

We should not forget that China and Russia vetoed a United States of America-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution that would have allowed the US and its allies to invade Zimbabwe in 2009. For China and Russia, that was the greatest endorsement and show of trust and confidence in President Mugabe’s leadership and vision in Statecraft. That veto, however, damaged US’s ego big time. It was a blow below the belt.

China has by and large emerged as the US’s biggest competitor in Africa and for Zimbabwe, being the current chair of African Union, it makes the situation worse for the US and its allies. Unfortunately for Uncle Sam, he cannot stop China.

Washington is very worried by the continued expansion of its main rival, China, in military, technical and economic cooperation with Africa.

It is important to understand that the US worry about China started with Beijing’s practical study and subsequent creation of a global structure of naval bases and land elements of strategic support on the Chinese navy fleet, which were supposed to be placed along the African seas coast on the Indian and Pacific oceans. This really irritated the US. As a retaliatory measure, the US created and activated AFRICOM, a superior US military outfit, exclusively to oversee US adventures in Africa and give advantage to US over the exploitation of untapped African natural resources.

After failing to transfer AFRICOM headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany, to Africa, because of political and economy inexpediency, the Pentagon has continued to search for optimum ways of advancing US interests in Africa. For this purpose and also as counter action to the Chinese, the Pentagon uses an address and shuttle diplomacy, using frameworks in which high-ranking Washington officials, including AFRICOM top management, go on confidential tours in selected African countries on a monthly basis beginning 2015, in a bid to paint US as a messiah and China as a devil incarnate.

For example, it is very strange that pirate activity on the Somalia coast (Where shipping routes of power resources deliveries to China are) was increased right after the summit of China-Africa in November 2006, which became a new coil of rapprochement between Beijing and African countries as well as the starting point for the general escalation of the struggle for Africa between US and China. It is also indicative that the US and Great Britain are the main opponents of the acceptance of the international rules and laws on the struggle against piracy.

All the initiatives (concerning this problem) offered by other countries, have been constantly blocked by the US and Great Britain in the UN.

Washington has also increased information war against Beijing in the African and international mass media, by means of its powerful media resources. The specially fabricated and packaged information, ostensibly exposing the bad side of the Chinese policy in Africa, has been regularly thrown into the media space. It testifies to the US administration’s transition from attempts to involve China in dialogue on division of spheres of influence in Africa to an offensive confrontational course against Beijing.

Zimbabwe’s Look East policy was first rubbished by the western countries at its inception but has sired more fruits than any other modern-day Zimbabwean foreign policy. The US offensive in Zimbabwe, including even the sale of live wild animals to China, is evidence of how far the US can go to discredit China.

The Chinese President’s visit to Zimbabwe, therefore, must be understood from the perspective of an internationalised opinion on why China does business with Zimbabwe. When the Chinese President visited Africa and did not come to Zimbabwe, the US used the private media to downplay Zimbabwe’s relationship with China. That time China disbursed $10 million to seven African countries for tourism and conservation and the rabid western-sponsored private media went to town. But, and a big BUT, before their ink dried the Chinese Government gave Zimbabwe an exclusive $2 million through the Sino-Zimbabwe Wildlife Foundation. No one country got that amount.

Today the Chinese President is visiting Zimbabwe and surely that has shocked the enemies of Zimbabwe’s Look East policy. The US is losing sleep again.

 Tichaona Nhamo is a Zimbabwean political scientist studying in Tanzania.

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