Harare, ZIMBABWE
The Chinese government has told Zimbabwe President Emmerson
Mnangagwa to either “resign or retire” from office or face “political action”
from Beijing, according to a report in Spotlight
Zimbabwe, an online media publication.
The report
said Beijing has also asked Mnangagwa to hand over power to China-leaning
Vice-President General Constantino Chiwenga (Retd), who has been in China since
July for medical treatment.
Reports suggest that
China was responsible for promoting Mnangagwa as Vice-President in 2015 during
the presidency of the late Robert Mugabe, who was deposed in 2017 after nearly
four decades in power.
Now, Beijing
is said to be displeased with Mnangagwa for slowly walking away from Zimbabwe’s
“Look East Policy” and refusing to grant several development projects to
Chinese firms.
For a long
time, smaller nations have been anxious about China’s “debt-trap diplomacy”,
especially through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, but such overt
interference by the Asian giant in another country’s domestic politics is
unheard of.
China and
Zimbabwe have shared a deep relationship since the 1960s, when Beijing “provided arms
and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders, including Mnangagwa” during the
country’s struggle against white minority rule.
Zimbabwe has had an
ailing economy for decades and China’s continued economic assistance has been
indispensable for the country.
According to
a December 2016 report in The
Diplomat, China invested in at least 128 projects in Zimbabwe
between 2000 and 2012. And Zimbabwe is reportedly China’s third-largest
destination for foreign direct investment.
Behind this
economic relationship was former president Mugabe’s “Look East Policy”. This
policy ensured that
Chinese firms got preferential treatment when Harare gave out infrastructure
development contracts.
However,
after coming to office, Mnangagwa started to gradually unwind Zimbabwe’s
economic dependence on China and unleashed an effort to diversify the
country’s economic relationships.
“The reason
China wants him (Mnangagwa) out is because he has made them angry by reneging
on a number of deals he made with Beijing in 2015,” the Spotlight
Zimbabwe report quotes a former intelligence minister of the
country as saying.
Some of the
deals Mnangagwa has reneged on include a major contract, promised to China
Railway, “to refurbish and reconstruct a new national railway network for
Zimbabwe worth billions”. The contract has now reportedly been
given to a Western firm.
“Mnangagwa
also undertook to give China exclusive diamonds and platinum claims in the
country, but they have lost to Russia on that front,” said the former
intelligence minister.
Chinese authorities
have allegedly used emissaries in Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s office
to pass the message to Mnangagwa that he should either step down or risk facing
“unspecified political action from Beijing”.
“Yes, the
possibilities of another coup to topple him (Mnangagwa) are very high. The
whole government and even our office is divided over him and Chiwenga,” the Spotlight
Zimbabwe report quoted sources in the office of the President
and cabinet as saying.
There seems
to be a discernible pattern when it comes to China’s reported involvement in
Zimbabwe’s politics. China has constantly made an effort to ensure one of its
preferred candidates in the country’s top political leadership. The following
three instances help highlight this pattern.
Back in
2015, when Zimbabwe’s economy was in free fall, the Chinese government
reportedly lobbied to get
Mnangagwa appointed as Vice-President.
In 2017, a
major political stir followed revelations
that Chiwenga had visited Beijing just a few days before the military coup that
led to Mugabe’s removal.
Now,
Chiwenga is again in China and there is news of Beijing allegedly demanding
Zimbabwe’s President to resign.
No comments:
Post a Comment