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The late former president Robert Mugabe
IN 2000, then President Robert Mugabe stunned the international community when he announced that Zimbabwe was turning its back on the West to forge strong ties with China.
In a famous speech in 2005, Mugabe went on to say, “We have turned east, where the sun rises, and given our back to the west, where the sun sets. Zimbabwe hoped to gain access to new markets, attract investment and receive financial assistance from these Asian nations.”
Since then, Zimbabwe-China relations have become robust, attaining the status of “all-weather friends,” while Zimbabwe actively encourages Chinese public and private investment through favourable policies and bilateral agreements.
During the liberation struggles against colonial hegemony and oppression, China supported the liberation movements in southern Africa, including Zanu PF, at a time when Western powers strongly backed the colonial status quo.
Many observers of international relations argue that Mugabe’s foreign policy, about turn was opportunistic. But viewed from the contemporary geopolitical moment, there is something profound about Zimbabwe’s pioneering, proliferating ties with China.
Given that China is a young major power, which only recently evolved into the second largest economy in the world, taking major responsibilities as a major global player, there will be some contradictions and challenges.
But the bigger picture suggests that African countries and the global south, do have a supportive and empathetic major power willing to do things differently.
The challenge is, however, whether Africa can leverage on these ties to catalyse much-needed industrialisation and manufacturing, adopt, internalise and absorb the hi-tech revolution that has powered China into various modern economic sectors.
The Look East policy sought to create a counterweight to Western influence, diversifying Zimbabwe’s economic partners while asserting its role in the international arena. During the 2000s, African statesmen made a big deal of the need for assertive collective diplomacy on issues of mutual interest such as fostering peace, stability and development.
More urgently, African countries must collectively leverage on their human and natural resources to reboot economic development, working closely with reliable international partners. The contemporary geopolitical moment is characterised by inside-looking, transactional or isolationist policies.
For instance, the withdrawal of the US from international organisations, unilateral cutting of aid, and imposition of tariffs even on some of the weakest economies in Africa pose major economic and political threats to the continent.
However, African leaders could seize the opportunity to unshackle the continent from hegemonic control by fostering continental self-reliance in collaboration with trustworthy international partners who are willing to share their resources with the people of the continent.
The Zimbabwe Look East policy sets an interesting example for the African continent on how to diversify international partners, while protecting national, regional and continental interests. Zimbabwe had to manage its reliance on Western partners, diversify and forge new partnerships based on genuine and sustainable friendships.
While the Look East policy broadly focused on countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore, China became the prime diplomatic and trading partner. Arguably, the Zimbabwean economy survived sanctions, partly due to significant investment and trade deals with China encompassing infrastructural development, agriculture and mining, among others.
As aptly captured by Munetsi Madakufamba, the executive director of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre, China became the most significant lifeline for Zimbabwe as it emerged as a key destination for Chinese investment in Africa.
In the aftermath of the imposition of Western targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe, Chinese investment became the most significant contributor to economic growth and development amid ongoing socio-economic and political crises.
There is vast potential for Zimbabwe and the African continent to further strengthen their economic co-operation with China, leverage shared innovation, new technologies, governance experiences and practices, research, and development, as well as human capital development.
China has become the pillar of trade stability, a major promoter of free market global trade, equitable globalisation, and chief advocate for a fairer, more representative and inclusive participatory multilateralism. During the 2000s, China was nowhere near where it is today in terms of socio-economic development, technological innovation, geographical and multilateral reach in trade. China has emerged as the second-largest global economy after the US, a major trading partner with Africa and the world’s leading global manufacturer. Its rapid economic growth and the prudent CPC government targeted poverty alleviation programmes achieved unprecedented poverty reduction, lifting approximately 800 million people out of extreme poverty, accounting for about 75% of the global reduction in extreme poverty.
The Chinese economy has moved beyond manufacturing into innovative sectors such as aviation, AI, telecommunications, microprocessors, robotics, nuclear and fusion power, quantum computing, biotech, pharma, solar, batteries.
A study by David Autor and Gordon Hanson highlights Western fears about surging innovation in Beijing. The two scholars show that China has jumped ahead of Western countries in cutting-edge, high-value sectors where the US once dominated.
According to the study, China leads the US in electric batteries, AI algorithms and hardware, advanced optical communication, and machine learning. China has become the leading country in key frontier technologies ahead of the US and Western Europe countries.
Chinese blue-chip companies such as BYD in EVs, CATL in EV batteries, Huawei, Baidu, Xpeng, GwM, Xiaomi, among others, have become major global competitors. Autor and Hanson credit the new Chinese model of agile industrial policy, where local governments foster innovation ecosystems, thus driving innovation.
There are major lessons for African countries here. African governments and private capital must invest in technology-driven manufacturing and industrialisation. While Africa has largely fallen behind in technical innovation, countries like South Africa, with comparatively better capacity and lower costs for rapid tech-uptake, must lead and champion regional and continental innovation-driven projects.
Collaborative investment into strategically vital sectors such as clean energy, drones, biotechnologies, aviation, transportation and telecommunications based on strong long-term planning and policies, and stability in governance could unlock major international trade-offs.
Emerging multilateral platforms offer new opportunities for African countries as sources of investment, markets and exchange of ideas and experiences in cultural diplomacy. Fifty-three African countries and the African Union are members of the Forum for Africa-China Cooperation, a multilateral initiative with China launched in 2000. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trade corridor that brings together countries from Asia, the Middle East and Africa, stretching into Europe.
China plays a major role as part of the rapidly expanding Brics group of emerging economies, which now includes South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt, while other African countries have signalled their intentions to join. As reflected by discussions at the Rio Summit, the Brics is very much focused on multilateral challenges facing the global south, including Africa and providing an important multilateral corrective in a world dominated by the US for the past three decades, but now transitioning away from unipolarity.
While looking east and to China in particular, may have been a Zimbabwean vision in 2000, it is now a continental, even global vision.
- Gideon Chitanga, PhD, is an international relations expert and political analyst. He writes here in his personal capacity.
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