![\"China](\"https:\/\/ci3.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/xF8scV20LYsyuI0ffAHzzPWI7HA66g3qg2P4qMkl9OKbAKXaAvtjG6NW1VvP-vWIuRZoQwMQ7ANDdZcGf-AQR2rhzazGqefSZVTTSwHYc3zjPLWsCAw=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/capx.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mugabe-yuan-1400x788.jpg\")
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China’s President Xi Jinping and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe in Beijing, 2014.<\/p>\n
CHINA IS USING ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT TO DESTORY THE PEOPLE OVER GREED THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED THREE YEARS AGO:<\/strong><\/p>\n Zimbabwe is back in the news. Or, it was. For about two days. European and Western media have dutifully reported on the series of painful economic crises the country has suffered since independence with the occasional \u201cso-bad-it\u2019s-funny\u201d article on the birthday celebrations of the country\u2019s long-time President Robert Mugabe. But the full tragedy is that the country is entering its second century of colonial rule, having enjoyed a 35 year stint of totalitarian independence in the middle, and no one seems to care.<\/p>\n I respect the points made in Augustine\u2019s Chipungu\u2019s article <\/a>for CapX last month, yet can\u2019t help but feel certain\u00a0comments are missing some ugly truths. For example, it may be true that if \u201cyou divide the top 28 top country destinations for Chinese investment\u2026 the balance tips in favour of democratic societies such as Botswana and South Africa\u201d. But this is\u00a0largely\u00a0irrelevant information if Chinese investment is\u00a0actively preventing democracy from taking hold in other countries.<\/p>\n China\u2019s presence in Zimbabwe\u00a0is not new. However, the scale of infiltration may have been missed by Western media, or is being ignored.<\/p>\n Although formal diplomatic relations with China were only established on the 18th of April 1980, this\u00a0friendship started from a shared ideological belief in Marxist-Leninism. Mugabe, whilst the exiled leader of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU; later, ZANU-PF), his\u00a0political party, explicitly stated that he wanted one branch of his guerilla army, ZANLA, to have a political orientation stemming from his supposed Marxist-Leninist philosophy. This alliance of ideas produced\u00a0the notorious 5th Brigade, who were trained by Zimbabwe and China\u2019s mutual ally, North Korea, and supplied with arms by Beijing. The depth of their ideological motivation can be measured\u00a0by the fact ZANU turned against fellow revolutionary group ZAPU who were also socialist and funded by the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n Members of the\u00a05th Brigade\u00a0were active in Matabeleland to the West\u00a0of Rhodesia, where they targeted Ndebele tribes who did not support Mugabe who is from a Shona tribal background. (Their\u00a0main political\u00a0tactic\u00a0gukuruhundi\u00a0<\/em>r However, the\u00a0relationship between the two countries truly\u00a0peaked\u00a0in October 2015. A\u00a0private association of Chinese citizens based in Hong Kong, known as the Association of Chinese Indigenous Arts, awarded Robert Mugabe the Confucius Peace Prize<\/a>. Why this secretive group, which has murky ties to the Chinese government, awarded\u00a0the Chinese version of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mugabe remains unknown.<\/p>\n Since independence, China has invested heavily in Zimbabwe, despite European and World Bank sanctions. From 2000 to 2012, approximately 128 Chinese official development projects were identified in Zimbabwe. For example:<\/p>\n * Around US$144m has been pumped into Harare City Council for water infrastructure and sewerage rehabilitation.<\/p>\n * A multi-million dollar high-speed train service<\/a> between Harare and Bulawayo was announced by China Railway Corporation in 2012.<\/p>\n The Matabeleland Zambezi Water Pipeline project has been contracted by China Dalian Technical Group, and China has already budgeted US$864\u2008million that will be extended through China\u2019s Eximbank.<\/p>\n * Anhui Foreign Economic Construction (Group) Co. is close to completing the construction of a US$300\u2008million 300-bed hotel adjacent to the National Sports Stadium, while an extra US$580\u2008million has\u00a0been pumped into a giant shopping mall.<\/p>\n * Tianze Tobacco Company, established in 2005 by China Tobacco Import & Export Corporation, has extended a cumulative $100m in interest-free loans to local tobacco farmers and controls over 72% of the crop through contract farming. ( A nice alliance as Zimbabwe is the world\u2019s 5th largest producer of tobacco, and\u00a068% of Chinese men smoke<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Despite this, Zimbabwe recorded a trade deficit<\/a> of US$290.99 million in December of 2014. Between 1991 and 2014, the average trade deficit was\u00a0US$422.44 million, reaching a\u00a0crisis point\u00a0of\u00a0over US$5\u00a0billion in 2011.<\/p>\n After the violent land expropriations in 2000, symbolising the loss of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, GDP fell by about 26% in two years, and inflation was more than 600% by the beginning of 2004. This triggered the downward spiral. As legally defended property ceased to exist, economic activity decreased. The banking sector was disrupted as borrowing and entrepreneurial activity dropped because\u00a0property titles couldn\u2019t be offered to the banks as a collateral loan. Incentives to engage in entrepreneurial activities were eliminated and foreign investment flatlined.\u00a0Agricultural production levels sharply dropped as commercial farmers\u00a0fled,\u00a0taking their knowledge of sophisticated farming practices to other countries. Zimbabwe\u2019s\u00a0dire economic performance was no secret.<\/p>\n Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009<\/a>,\u00a0making the South African rand and US dollar legal tender in the country. Since then it has also added the British pound. These moves failed to curtail inflation, and six months ago, Zimbabwe\u2019s central bank announced that it was completely phasing out the local currency. After years of hyperinflation (peaking at 79.6 sextillion%) the Zimbabwean dollar\u00a0had become\u00a0virtually worthless.\u00a0250 trillion Zimbabwe dollars was\u00a0worth just $1. To illustrate: one local woman took her wheelbarrow to the bank in Harare, the capital, in order to carry the amount of bills she would need to purchase anything. On her way back to her car she was robbed. Two young men seized the wheelbarrow, emptied the cash at her feet, and ran off with the wheelbarrow.<\/p>\n Where does China come on the scene? In\u00a0a move that initially appears unnecessary considering the other currencies in place, Zimbabwe has just announced that\u00a0it would adopt the Chinese yuan as an official currency<\/a>.<\/p>\n The stated goal of using of the yuan is increasing bilateral trade, namely helping African countries export more to China. The first step, according to Zimbabwe\u2019s finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, is that Chinese tourists would be allowed to pay for services in yuan<\/a>. He claims that use of the yuan \u201cwill be a function of trade between China and Zimbabwe and acceptability with customers in Zimbabwe\u201d. The yuan has not yet\u00a0been approved for public transactions in the Zimbabwean market, which is currently dominated by the US dollar, but is due to be activated early this year.<\/p>\n Many see this as part of China\u2019s has push to internationalize its currency. Late last month, the International Monetary Fund\u2019s Executive Board voted in favor of acknowledging the yuan as one of the world\u2019s top currencies<\/a>. Therefore\u00a0it is unclear why use of the yuan in Zimbabwe, a failing\u00a0economy, should be a priority for China. The decision to make Chinese currency legal tender in Zimbabwe hints at a more sinister colonialist relationship.<\/p>\n The motives for Zimbabwe are also suspicious. Having China as an ally adds an\u00a0ideological smokescreen, which has\u00a0advantages both domestically and internationally. Revolutionary myths continue to serve the political function of mobilising domestic support, while close ties with China\u00a0ward off criticism from Western states conscious of their colonial past. Unfortunately for Zimbabweans, Mugabe\u2019s personal brand of socialism is limited to exploiting existing resources, with no plans regarding how to create wealth. The poverty-stricken nation has apparently learnt nothing from China\u2019s rise.\u00a0Instead, it\u00a0has mismanged its way into impoverishment.\u00a0From 1985 to 1987, agriculture contributed an average of 13% of Zimbabwe\u2019s GDP and provided more than 90% of its food requirements. By\u00a02013, in contrast, the World Food Programme estimated that\u00a02.2 million people<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 equal to a quarter of the rural population \u2014 needed food assistance. If well managed, the country could cater for the whole continent. Instead, its people face starvation.<\/p>\n So China may seem an attractive benefactor.\u00a0In November 2012, the Zimbabwean government received grain worth more than US$15 million from the Chinese government as a flat-out donation to prevent several communities disappearing to famine.\u00a0Zimbabwe also desperately needs China to supply what little infrastructure it can hope for. The 2003\u00a0disagreement with the EU led to targeted sanctions, capital flight, and economic depression.\u00a0Many Western leaders had hopes that this international pressure would cause the Mugabe regime to implode.\u00a0It has not, but it has left\u00a0Zimbabwe is\u00a0in dire need of trading partners, with China there to fill the void.<\/p>\n Yet since then, Zimbabwe further isolated\u00a0itself. In\u00a02011, in a stunning case of irony, Zimbabwe central banker Gideon Gono made it clear he wished to avoid the US dollar<\/a> as a\u00a0transplant currency. He \u201cwarned that Zimbabwe\u2019s nascent economic recovery is at the mercy of the United States dollar, which is facing new pressures from the Euro-zone debt crisis\u201d, positioning Zimbabwe further from Western democracies.<\/p>\n It seems unlikely the move away from the dollar was truly out of fears over the Eurozone stability. Far more plausible\u00a0is that Chinese pressure has coerced the government\u00a0into distancing Zimbabwe\u00a0from other global powers.\u00a0Central Intelligence Organisation documents suggest that China continues to\u00a0play a central role in retaining President Robert Mugabe in his political seat, finding\u00a0that high level military officers work closely with the local army in poll strategies, while Beijing bankrolls Mugabe\u2019s party. The construction of the new National Defence College<\/a> in 2010 (to the tune of US$98 million, on loan from the China Export and Import Bank) strengthens these\u00a0suspicions. Furthermore, the currency adoption is actually part of a deal in which Beijing will also cancel $40 million in debt.\u00a0Zimbabwe is adopting the yuan because it is propped up\u00a0by the yuan. It may have had little choice in the matter.<\/p>\n The yuan has indeed been making inroads elsewhere on the continent. Kenya and South Africa both host clearinghouses that enable traders to conduct transactions between local currencies and the yuan without going through the US dollar first. China\u2019s expansive economic connections in Africa make the widespread introduction of the yuan on the continent a welcome development for them, and the myriad of weak currencies in the region only aids this aim.<\/p>\n But\u00a0China is now Zimbabwe\u2019s largest trading partner, and purchases 27.8% of the country\u2019s exports.\u00a0Murray & Roberts, a top construction firm in Zimbabwe have noted that the Chinese are also\u00a0dominating Zimbabwe\u2019s construction industry, taking\u00a0the few projects on offer. According to their spokesperson: \u201cThe Chinese have also taken over the telecommunications industry and we face stiff competition because they have cheaper and more skilled labour<\/a>. M&R is contemplating joining hands with Chinese construction firms, who have been given major projects in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Zimbabwe has witnessed an economic uptick in recent years (brought about, in part by rising commodity prices, as well as a diversification of foreign investment options) but these short-term gains can only thinly\u00a0mask the danger Mugabe is putting Zimbabwe in. Adopting a foreign currency can put a lid on hyperinflation, but it\u2019s very difficult to reverse the process. Zimbabwe is now entirely in the hands of the Chinese. If they cut off their oxygen supply to the Sub-Saharan nation, Zimbabweans will not have long to wait before their country gives up the ghost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China’s President Xi Jinping and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe in Beijing, 2014. CHINA IS USING ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT TO DESTORY THE PEOPLE OVER GREED THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED THREE YEARS AGO: Chinese firm uses Zimbabwe government money to fuel back market China buys its first African colony for a meagre $40million Zimbabwe is entering its 2nd Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,133,39,5,1124,1],"tags":[12,1486,1088,1312],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35463"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39497,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35463\/revisions\/39497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-August-Chinese-Firm-uses-Zimbabwe-300x225.jpg\")
Chinese firm uses Zimbabwe government money to fuel back market<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n