The history of connection between China and Africa, which dates back to the continent’s struggle for independence in the 1950s, has paved way for extensive collaboration.
According to Monica Mutsvangwa, Minister for communication for Zimbabwe, China was crucial in training guerrillas and giving military assistance to African national liberation forces.
“China armed African national liberation movements as well as provided guerrilla training. It thus played a pivotal role in providing military support to the Zimbabwe struggle, including ensuring that more than 75 percent of Zimbabwe’s guerilla combatants and current army generals received military training either in China or by Chinese Military instructors in Tanzania during the Chimurenga armed struggle,” Mutswanga said.
She praised China’s commitment to multilateralism, world peace, and stability and added that China is also assisting in reorienting international financial institutions to make them more inclusive and supportive of development.
“It recently availed its quota of IMF Special Drawing Rights to developing nations, and this is commendable. At the same time, it is cancelling some of the African concessionary debt, which gives countries indebted to it room to grow sustainably,” she said.
After Zimbabwe was subjected to western sanctions in the early 2000s, China also played a crucial role in the country’s diplomatic relations.
In 2018, the connections between the two countries were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership, demonstrating the importance of their relationship and their shared intention to keep it going for many more years.