Sino-Zim ties grow

China’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Xin Shunkang said economic co-operation agreements to be signed next week were part of fulfilling that objective.
The agreements will be signed during Vice Prime Minister Mr Wang Qishan’s visit to Zimbabwe.
Vice Premier Wang arrives in Harare on Monday on a two-day visit.
Ambassador Xin was speaking to journalists after meeting Vice President Joice Mujuru at her office in Harare yesterday.
“This will also be the first time that the Vice Premier (Mr Wang) will visit Africa.
“He is also expected to visit Kenya and Angola,” said Ambassador Xin.
He said Vice Premier Wang will get Zimbabwe’s requirements and find ways to assist.
“He is going to meet Vice President Mujuru, meet with the Prime Minister (Mr Morgan Tsvangirai) and President Mugabe,” Ambassador Xin.
Vice Premier Wang is also expected to visit Chitungwiza Central Hospital where a team of Chinese doctors will be doing free cataract eye operations.
“We want to demonstrate that China is a good friend to Zimbabwe. It is our hope that the economy and lives of Zimbabweans would change,” he said.
Vice Premier Wang’s visit is at the invitation of Vice President Mujuru and comes after Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi’s visit last month during which he described Zimbabwe as a “key partner” in Southern Africa.
The Vice Premier is a former mayor of Beijing and is responsible for China’s finance and monetary policy issues.
He will witness the signing of several economic co-operation agreements and inspect the China-Zimbabwe Friendship Brightness Trip Project at Chitungwiza Central Hospital.
Ambassador Xin recently said high-level visits by Chinese officials were indicative of the deep roots of friendship between the two countries.
Sino-Zimbabwe ties date back to centuries when the two peoples traded.
Later, during the liberation struggle China gave technical, financial and moral support to Zimbabwe.
The two established diplomatic ties at Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and relations have grown from strength-to-strength since then.
China supported Zimbabwe in the face of an onslaught by Western countries that have imposed illegal sanctions on the country.
China, Russia and other progressive nations vetoed attempts by Britain and the US to legitimise their illegal sanctions regime through the UN Security Council in 2008.
Zimbabwe has backed the “One China Policy”. China has funded the construction of a hospital, schools and an agricultural demonstration centre among many other projects in Zimbabwe.
French Ambassador Francois Ponge also paid a courtesy call on VP Mujuru.
Mr Ponge said as long as the European Union supported the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, their country would continue to do so.
“We are a European country and we are governed by the rules of the European Union.
“And we have to abide by the Lisbon Treaty and that is why we decided to align with the European Union,” Ambassador Ponge said.