Grace Mugabe charms Chinese First Lady

Some critics of President Xi’s visit say the economic revival the people of Zimbabwe hope for will not happen, adding that the relationship between Zimbabwe and China is tilted in China’s favor.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre, and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, centre right, watch a performance by Zimbabwean traditional dancers upon his arrival in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told reporters soon after Xi’s arrival that the two leaders would follow up on agreements signed when Mugabe visited China in August 2014. A slew of deals for power plants, infrastructure and agriculture projects are expected to be announced during Xi’s visit to the continent, which houses some of the most impoverished nations in the world.

China is Zimbabwe’s top foreign investor, injecting 2.7 billion dollars into the country between 2010 and 2013, according to the Zimbabwe Investment Authority.

According to an Executive Mansion release, the Summit, which is being held under the theme, “Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development”, marks the first time that African and Chinese leaders will meet in Africa to look at ways of deepening cooperation.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed 10 investment deals with Zimbabwe on Tuesday evening, pledging to continue cooperating with the investment-hungry country as it attempts to reverse a prolonged economic meltdown.

The quantity of products including crude oil, manganese, copper, cobalt ore and other energy and resource products that China imports from Africa hasn’t declined, he said.

China’s must weigh whether the risks of taking a bigger role in such danger zones are worth the benefits.

“The visit of President Xi is going to consolidate and cement some of the agreements and in fact undertaking also to further co-operate with respect to those agreements which are not yet mature for signing at this moment”, Chinamasa said.

Chinese state-owned firms in Africa face criticism for using Chinese labour to build government-funded projects like roads and hospitals, while pumping out resources and leaving little for local economies, an image Beijing wants to change at the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation in Johannesburg on December 3-4. “It has milestone importance to the development of Africa-China relations and more balanced, inclusive and sustainable development of the world”, said the leader of the world’s most populous country.

The two sides will jointly chart the course of cooperation within the next three years, with an aim to accelerate Africa’s industrialization process and help Africa achieve sustainable development, Xi said.

“The Chinese investors are becoming quite strong in terms of their investments in Zimbabwe”. China has pledged US$100 million (S$141 million) of military aid for the African Union and deployed frigates to fight piracy off the Somali coast, leading to Beijing considering building its first overseas naval resupply station in Djibouti.

But China’s Commerce Ministry recently admitted that Chinese investments to Africa had fallen by 40 percent in the first half of this year – a move that some analysts attributed to China’s slowing economy.