Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere in Xiong’an, China
VICE President Dr Constantino Chiwenga today continued his packed working visit to China with a tour of three strategic sites in the futuristic Xiong’an New Area before holding high-level talks with Hebei Province Governor Wang Zhengpu, as Zimbabwe seeks to tap Chinese expertise in smart-city development, energy, technology and industrialisation.
The Vice President visited the Comprehensive Service Centre of the Initial Development Zone, China Huaneng Group Co Ltd and Sinochem Holdings, giving his delegation first-hand exposure to some of the technologies, infrastructure and industrial systems underpinning the development of Xiong’an — a new city being built about 100 kilometres southwest of Beijing.
The engagements formed another hectic leg of VP Chiwenga’s China programme, which has combined investment meetings, international conferences, company visits and engagements with senior Chinese officials as Zimbabwe seeks to turn its strong political relations with Beijing into deeper economic and industrial cooperation.
After touring the three sites, VP Chiwenga paid a courtesy call on Hebei Governor Wang Zhengpu and Zhang Guohua, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of Xiong’an New Area.
In the meeting, the Vice President said Zimbabwe needs to draw lessons from the extraordinary pace at which Xiong’an has been developed and apply some of that knowledge to the development of the Mt Hampden New City.
“I acknowledge the impressive innovation and achievement of constructing this smart and environmentally friendly infrastructure in this area in less than 10 years,” said VP Chiwenga.
“I wish to highlight that back home in Zimbabwe, we are also developing the Mt Hampden New City, just outside the capital Harare and envisage to emulate what we have witnessed here back home.”
Xiong’an was established in 2017 as a major national development project and is designed to receive functions that are not essential to the capital Beijing’s role.
“We therefore look forward not just to learn from your Province’s successful experiences but to building enduring partnerships of genuine joint prosperity between your Province and Zimbabwe in developing smart cities where daily necessities, work and public services are reachable within a short distance,” he said.
VP Chiwenga proposed the establishment of a twinning arrangement between Hebei and one of Zimbabwe’s provinces to facilitate cooperation in infrastructure planning and development.
The visit to China Huaneng Group was particularly important given Zimbabwe’s drive to expand electricity generation, modernise its power infrastructure and increase renewable-energy investment.
Huaneng is one of China’s giant State-owned energy enterprises. By the end of 2025, its installed generation capacity had exceeded 300GW, while low-carbon and clean-energy sources accounted for more than 56,6 percent of capacity, according to the company.
For Zimbabwe, which is courting investment in electricity generation, transmission, storage and other modern energy systems, exposure to such a company provides an opportunity to study both the scale and technologies behind China’s energy development.
VP Chiwenga’s programme also took him to Sinochem Holdings, another major Chinese State-owned enterprise whose presence in Xiong’an illustrates the city’s growing role as a home for strategic national corporations.
Sinochem was created through the restructuring of Sinochem Group and ChemChina and has operations spanning life sciences, materials, petrochemicals, environmental science, rubber and tyres, among other things.
Its activities are particularly relevant to Zimbabwe’s investment drive because of the country’s ambitions in agriculture, chemicals, new energy, industrial manufacturing and mineral value chains.
Meanwhile, the Vice President’s tour of the Comprehensive Service Centre of the Initial Development Zone afforded the Zimbabwean delegation an opportunity to appreciate the planning and integrated infrastructure underpinning Xiong’an.
VP Chiwenga told Governor Wang that his visit should open new avenues for cooperation between Zimbabwe, Hebei Province and Xiong’an.
“It is my hope that our meeting today marks the beginning of a new partnership between Zimbabwe and Hebei Province,” he said.
The Vice President also reaffirmed Zimbabwe’s commitment to the One China Policy and hailed the elevation of relations between the two countries to a Zimbabwe-China All-Weather Community with a Shared Future, guided by the “Five-Star Ironclad” cooperation framework.
