via China deals: Caution vital – DailyNews Live 27 August 2014
HARARE – Zimbabwe and China have signed an agreement on cooperation in nine key fields of the economy.
The framework agreement, which will be in force for years, was signed in the presence of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who is on a four-day official visit to Beijing.
The agreement aims to promote long-term cooperation in the fields of energy, roads, national railway network, telecommunications, agriculture and tourism.
It covers the exchange of information, exchange of working visits by officials and specialists in various domains of the economy, new investments, expansion and operations of exploration and production, including refining, transportation and supply in Zimbabwe.
China has been sneakily spreading its hegemonic tentacles into the economies of Africa, and alarmingly in many cases, targeting weak economies such as Zimbabwe.
The same situation holds for many countries in Africa.
China is slowly coming into Zimbabwe’s economy as a benefactor: the exporter to Zimbabwe of the cheapest manufactured goods; an insatiable consumer of cheap Zimbabwean raw materials.
That is why it is absolutely important to look carefully through these nine deals. We need to exercise caution, otherwise we end up with odious debt.
While the minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa has brushed aside reports that Zimbabwe was mortgaging its mineral resources to access the much-needed Chinese aid, his explanation that the said sponsored projects had to make money to pay themselves off to China is pie in the sky.
Zimbabwean politicians are known for their looting as soon as they receive any financial loans or packages. What happened to the Chinese loan meant to rehabilitate the City of Harare’s water and drainage systems?
Top management looted that money — they purchased new vehicles and flouted tender procedures, inflating prices for many of the purchases that followed.
We hope this is not a huge pay day for management in loss making companies earmarked for infrastructural financial injection — Zesa, NRZ, NetOne, Zinara, Zimsteel.
Chinamasa’s says government did not mortgage any of our minerals to bag the loan. He has been to Beijing three times, and each time returned home empty-handed. The Chinese have demanded concrete security for any loans or investments.
The irony with Chinese-sponsored projects or investments is that most times they benefit Chinese nationals and associated companies more than locals.
The Chinese are known to only put their money where they provide the human labour (from China); hence they will flood the nine key area projects. China has agreed to sponsor the projects, like they have already done in the mining and manufacturing industries.
COMMENTS
These loans and packages must not be honoured when there is a change of Government. They only benefit individuals so the individuals must be liable. In an article Yun Su writes ” China seeks to satisfy four broad national interests in its relations with the continent. Politically, China seeks Africa’s support for China’s “One China” policy and for its foreign policy agendas in multilateral forums such as the United Nations. Economically, Africa is seen primarily as a source of natural resources and market opportunities to fuel China’s domestic growth. From a security standpoint, the rising presence of Chinese commercial interests in Africa has led to growing security challenges for China, as the safety of Chinese investments and personnel come under threats due to political instability and criminal activities on the ground. Last but not least, China also sees an underlying ideological interest in Africa, as the success of the “China model” in non-democratic African countries offers indirect support for China’s own political ideology and offers evidence that Western democratic ideals are not universal.”Yun Sun is with the East Asia Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes.
Caution? Understatment of the year. Don’t bother with Hwange National Park anymore after signing of the little yellow-man multi-mining deal in Gwayi. Poaching of elephants in Hwange for ivory, the gold of the Chinese, will soon be at an all-time high, you wait and see. Goodbye tourists for good this time
“9 Investment Areas”, and no bailout money –
I love it, Mugabarbage failed, just as
China Mass before him, did!
Of course the Ching-Chongs won’t put up
hard cash, who in their right minds would.
There are no guarantees, corruption is rife.
2018 ZPF will be gone, the new MDC Government
won’t honor these ‘blackmail’ deals and
Zimbabwe will “Look West” once again anyway.
In the mean time China will rape, pillage,
hold to ransom and enslave Zimbabweans, as
they build low quality roads, rail and dams,
that will fall apart, like their cheap shoes.
Mugarbage has sold out the country once again,
although he did need the trip to China, via
Hong Kong, to make another diamond ‘deposit’.
This is all hot air designed to accord the nonagerian a chance to go for “eye cataract” checkup as well as divert attention away from the “dynasty construction”. The third objective is to bank the diamonds loot and the gifts from People’s Republic of China. The fourth objective is to get treatment for the first hostess.
To see how transparent and beneficial cooperation with the Chinese has been for Zimbabwe, we need look no further than Marange.
International law is very clear on such debt referred to as odius debt- the kind of debt any govt would flatly refuse to pay because the debt or loan did not benefit the generality of the people. Its only the chinese and a few corrupt politicians benefiting
The zimbabwe Gvt thinks that the reason the country is in this manure is lack of funding. The reason why nrz, zesa, net one, zbc, zinara, zupco, name them all, are broke is lack of funding. Delusional. Listen to me, to be successful at solving any problem, first identify what the problem is and what is the cause.
the family silver has been sold,now china will try everything to keep zanu in control to protect their extortion.
We will just tear up these toilet paper deals and kick the dirty chinks out
I was made to understand the so-called deals are just memoranda of understanding (MoUs). We all know Mugabe’s track record with understandings of any form. These are agreements between two devious parties..
It’s the end for our wild life heritage – so carefully nurtured by a handful of true Zimbabweans (many of them white people). Botswana and Namibia have now understood the value of their Wild places and the wild life within and they will be the biggest beneficiaries of the demise of ours.