Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Good. They richly deserve each other. And if one could, by some magic wand, saddle the Chinese with every basket case in the world, they would surely collapse under the weight.
They are realists and tough-minded in pursuit of their own interests. They going to do very well in Africa and elsewhere and get what they want (oil, allies on their UN votes) while Western governments funnel all their aid $$ through NGOs which sit around dithering about whether enough gender equity seminars have been held in the donee country.
Why would they want or should make such link? They are pragmatic, they want resources, markets, and allies.
Inflow of money WILL improve lives of Zimbabweans. For example they will work at this stadium refurbishment and they will use it.
China is one superpower that could go in and clean up the tribal messes of Africa in a colonial way without anyone (MSM)calling them racist. Not saying this bodes well for the rest of the world but Africa needs a babysitter willing to kill off the murderous thugs that have ruined this continent.
And second prize is ?
China has jumped the shark. Africa is a bottomless pit.
Africa had better bring a very long spoon.
I don't think we have anything to worry about. China can pour all the money they want down Mugabe's rat hole and it will remain a rat hole. The "money to refurbish the stadium" is a clear indication of this. Talk about a waste of money. If they really wanted a return on their investment they would sink money into roads and actual useful infrastructure. But then Communists have never been smart. They are sinking money into a country with an economy that is shrinking on an average of 8% a year.
On the other hand India is investing in Kenya and Tanzania where the economy is expanding on the average of 6% a year.
The smart money is on India.
China needs the mineral resources of southern Africa (South Africa and Zimbabwe). China does NOT need the Africans. They have millions of excess peasants who can come over and work the mines and the farms. The Africans will then be treated like the American Indians: driven off or killed
In exchange for being the figurehead who allows this, Mugabe will be allowed to retire to a nice estate in China, and will bring along all the women he wants to grab
Kind of old news. China has been investing quite a lot of dough to develop African resources for quite a few years now.
I was in Beijing 10 years ago (and of course since) and even then there were lots of dealings with Africa... and thousands of Africans "on business" in China.