Yang Jiechi's visit represents warming relations between the two countries
after China distanced itself when a violent crackdown by President Robert
Mugabe over disputed elections in 2008 soured the investment climate.
But there have been suggestions in the local media that Mr Yang will not get a
friendly reception from all quarters.
A reported agreement that could see China hand over as much as $10 billion in
loans in return for access to Zimbabwe's
platinum and revenue from its diamond fields has caused a row among
government officials, one of whom dismissed it as a "raw deal".
There are fears that it could cause further tension between Zimbabwe's fragile
coalition partners, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
China has a long-standing relationship with Zanu PF but it is the MDC's Tendai
Biti who now controls the Treasury and is said to be unsure about the deal.
China's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Xin Shunkang, said Mr Yang's two-day visit,
which follows a visit by Chinese politburo member Wang Gang last summer, was
to "show our support to Zimbabwe’s justified requests at international
arena and exploit and expand our mutually beneficial co-operation."
"We are confident that after Minister Yang’s visit, Sino-Zimbabwe
relations will be uplifted to a higher level," he told journalists in
Harare.
China is a long-time ally of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. It supported
his guerilla war before independence in 1980 with military training and
arms, stuck by the country despite it becoming a pariah state in the West
and deployed its UN Security Council veto to block sanctions against his
regime in 2008.
In the last four years, it has provided more than half a billion dollars in
direct aid for schools, clinics and transport infrastructure in a bid to
stabilise a country that sits at a strategically vital point between China’s
two largest investments in Africa - Angola and South Africa.
Mr Mugabe has assiduously courted Chinese investment, launching a Look East
policy in 2005, and in recent years China has been welcomed in its bid to
capitalise on Zimbabwe's rich resources, which include coal, methane gas,
platinum, chrome, copper, nickel and gold.
But China's investment has until now been limited because of concerns over
Zimbabwe's stability after land seizures and hyperinflation plummeted the
country into destitution.
Professor He Wenping, an Africa specialist with the government-sponsored
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said the new Chinese investment
activity in Zimbabwe reflected the improvement in the investment climate.
"China has long had strong relations with Zimbabwe, but in recent years,
as everyone knows, the country has been in some turmoil. Now that situation
has changed, China is adapting its policy accordingly," she said.
Prof He added that China would negotiate with both sides of Zimbabwe’s
coalition as it sought deepen its economic ties. "China is taking
advantage of the improved political situation," she added, "but it
is not the only investor eying up Zimbabwe, others are too, including from
Europe and the Arab world. Zimbabwe is an opportunity for everyone."
Diplomats in Harare suggest that China's relationship is still with Zanu PF
rather than the MDC, which yesterday could not say whether either Mr
Tsvangirai or Mr Biti would be meeting with Mr Yang.
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the MDC, was recently quoted as being
dismissive of Zanu PF's courting of Chinese businessmen.
"It’s not a government-to-government relationship, but a Zanu PF-China
relationship," he told Zimbabwe's NewsDay. "These relations have
consequences considering Zanu PF is a sunset party and the sun shall set on
its allies."
Dr Martyn Davies, an expert on China-Africa relations and CEO of Frontier
Advisory, said China would be careful to engage both parties on such a major
deal. "It's not in their interests to do some transaction which in two
years or maybe even sooner would have to be restructured if there's a change
in Zimbabwe's political arrangement," he said.
