Did China have a hand in triggering the recent coup in Zimbabwe? Did Beijing smell the political turmoil in the African nation in advance?
These questions are very much relevant right now as Chief of the Zimbabwean Army General Constantine Chiwenga visited Beijing just a week before the Army marched into Harare. The Chinese Defence Ministry recently posted a photo on its micro-blog, showing that General Chiwenga is shaking hands with Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan ahead of their ‘closed door’ meeting. The local media reported that the visiting Army chief also held separate meetings with senior Chinese defence personnel in Beijing. Some experts are of the opinion that Beijing had prior information about the coup. They believe that General Chiwenga left Beijing only after receiving ‘green signal’ from the top Chinese leadership.

General Chiwenga

Since 1975, China has maintained cordial ties with Zimbabwe. In fact, Beijing supported the African Nationalists’ armed struggle against the Whites in Southern Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe). Thereafter, the two countries strengthened diplomatic and economic ties. When the Western nations imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe at the beginning of the 21st century, Beijing backed President Robert Mugabe’s government and also provided financial help to Harare.
In the last 10 years, China has emerged as the biggest investor in Zimbabwe. The Asian giant has invested a huge amount in Zimbabwe’s automobile industry, power plant, tobacco and diamond industries. China is Zimbabwe’s biggest source of foreign currency and top trading partner, having invested in more than 128 projects there between 2000 and 2012.

Mugabe with Chinese President Xi Jinping

Cobus Van Staden, the senior researcher on Foreign Policy at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said: “The fact there were these kind of visits to Beijing right before (the coup) certainly seems indicative of something, but who knows what that was?”
As expected, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has claimed that General Chiwenga’s visit was a ‘routine’ one and Beijing had no plan to trigger a coup in Zimbabwe. Wang Xinsong, the Associate Professor at Beijing Normal University’s School of Social Development and Public Policy, argued that China would be very reluctant to see Zimbabwe fall into a period of social instability and political turmoil as Beijing has invested very largely in that country.
However, International Relations specialist at the University of Cape Town John Akokpari expressed a different view, saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if Chiwenga sought to shore up ties with Beijing before the coup. “It should not be too surprising if (Chiwenga) wanted to ensure political changes would not anger China because of the close ties between the two countries,” he stressed.
The global community knows that China can do anything to displace Western rivals and to increase its influence in the Dark Continent. We have to wait to know the truth.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das