It is a mutual admiration society to which the West is definitely not invited.
The leaders of China and Zimbabwe whispered sweet nothings about shared history, common foes and future cooperation during a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) praised Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a “an old friend of the Chinese people whom we respect very much.”
Photo: AFP
Mugabe, for his part, said he felt “very much at home.”
The political love-in came as Mugabe, 90, makes his 13th trip to China in what critics describe as a desperate attempt to attract investment to rescue a sinking economy.
China’s GDP of US$8.227 trillion in 2012 dwarfs Zimbabwe’s US$10.81 billion.
For years Mugabe, accused by the West of electoral fraud and human rights violations, has been pushing a “look East” policy for business. Now, this appears to include persuading the population of Zimbabwe to become more familiar with Chinese culture.
An article last week by Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Lin Lin (林琳) in Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald newspaper said that a recent “Night of Beijing” performance in the capital, Harare, had “fascinated and left unforgettable memories in the hearts of an audience of [more than] 3,000.”
The Chinese embassy and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp cohosted “the first-ever China-Zimbabwe quiz show to further increase the mutual knowledge and understanding between the two peoples,” Lin Lin wrote.
And now a professional crew from China Central Television is in Zimbabwe to shoot a tourism promotion documentary that aims to “attract more Chinese people’s eyes to this wonderland.”
On Monday, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), greeted Mugabe and his wife, Grace, with full military honors. A band played the two national anthems as a 21-gun salute was fired and the two presidents inspected a military honor guard. Children held flowers and miniature flags of both countries to welcome the two leaders, who held a meeting behind closed doors that lasted for hours, the Herald reported.
An unusually effusive Xi said: “I stand ready to work with you, your excellency, to comprehensively deepen our bilateral relationship and make sure the relationship will create benefits for people in both countries.”
Mugabe responded with thanks, saying: “We are prepared on our part to continue our historical relations and even build on them as we develop our economies and Zimbabwe will, naturally, as before, being a smaller country, be the beneficiary of this relationship, and so I want to assure you of our reciprocal undertaking, that we will do our best to reciprocate your friendship.”
The two oversaw the signing of nine agreements, including documents on economic, trade and tourism cooperation, as well as emergency food donations and concessional loans from China to Zimbabwe. No values were given.
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