World News



July 27, 2005

Chinese lend Mugabe a lifeline
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor



CHINA threw a lifeline yesterday to the beleaguered regime of Robert Mugabe when it offered Zimbabwe economic assistance in addition to diplomatic support against the West.
Only days after the Chinese blocked discussion at the United Nations Security Council of a damning UN report into Zimbabwe’s slum clearances, President Mugabe was greeted in Beijing yesterday as a “respected old friend†by President Hu of China.



After being toasted with champagne, the two leaders signed several economic and technical agreements that could help to prop up the collapsing Zimbabwean economy.

Details of the agreements were not released, but Mr Mugabe, 81, is looking for £600 million to relieve shortages of fuel and food and to head off possible expulsion from the International Monetary Fund for failing to pay debts.

China provides Zimbabwe with arms and aircraft and is interested in securing rights to exploit its mineral wealth. Further discussions on strengthening ties between the nations will be held today. Mr Mugabe, 81, is desperate for foreign assistance as he struggles against debts of £2.6 billion, triple-digit inflation and unemployment running at 70 per cent.

On Sunday President Mbeki of South Africa enraged Mr Mugabe’s critics when he proposed that his country take over a portion of Zimbabwe’s debt to help to avert economic collapse.

In Zimbabwe riot police continued the clearances yesterday, attacking the Porta Farm slum west of Harare, which is home to 20,000 people.

It figures!

This is why I build all of my products here in the USA....We will not do business with 2-faced countries / regimes. Especially Totalitarian-Communist ones!

China is just that.

Any American that builds their products in China should be ashamed of themselves for being so lazy and too stupid to make it work here, or elsewhere where fair labor practices are exercised.

The Chinese have been and always will be back-stabbers! Here is a great example!

My apologies for that!

Jeff

China now has a new colony. If Bob didn't like the Rhodesians, wait until his new masters take control. If it wasn't so sad, it would almost be funny.

Regards,

Terry

Can not wait for the "Defence Treaty"
Jeff, Your post is right on. We give China the hard dollars they need.

They approach things from business perspective w/o worring about human rights,..... When I was 5 years old grandpa told we that Chinese are going to take over the world.
Your neighbors shop at Walmart a lot, so
do your kids/grandkids a favor by having them learn Chinese.

If all the bungling dictators stay in power, with their policies and disruption, safari hunting in Zim and others may be history. Hope not!

Dak

quote:

China now has a new colony

____________

A very smart move on China's part. Nature does not tolerate a vacuum and there's a big one in Zim that is now getting filled. Watch what happens next in SA in that same regard. May take a few years but it's coming.

Darn, I sure wish I could stop my wife from shopping at Walmart.

China is desperate for raw materials, which it needs to grow its economy. In spite of what appears to be success they still have a long way to go, as anyone who has visited there and gone outside of the major cities has observed. So they don't pay too much attention to the governments that control the countries they court. Do you really think the US cares about a government if they need a country? During the cold war there were a lot of bums the US was glad to support, because they were agains the Russians. Bin Laden was one of the people the US courted and supported. So was Saddam. Now in the present situation some of the countries the US is allied with are pretty grim too, but they are needed in the war against terror, so what the heck.

I don't know what the solution is to avoid future conflict and promote freedom, but I can't see how keeping China poor by not buying things they make can help.