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Vol. 81/No. 46 December 11, 2017
(lead article)
Zimbabwe coup takes place amid Beijing rivalry
with Washington
BY TERRY EVANS
In the midst of economic crisis and political infighting, the Zimbabwean
military forced the resignation of long-standing President Robert
Mugabe. Ruling party Zanu-PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed the
presidency Nov. 24. The Chinese government, a longtime backer of the
Mugabe regime, said nothing to oppose his ouster.
Mnangagwa urged Washington and other imperialist powers to lift
sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe after the Mugabe government transferred
many large capitalist farms into the hands of Zanu-PF supporters in the
early 2000s. These sanctions have been continually renewed since then.
Mnangagwa said his government would compensate former landowners for the
land seizures, but not overturn them. He assured foreign capitalists
that their investments in Zimbabwe would be untouched.
When the Zimbabwean people ended white-minority rule and won
independence in 1980 they inherited an economy misshaped to accommodate
Britain’s extraction of raw materials and dumping of excess cheap products.
On top of this, working people there face the consequences of a
decadeslong capitalist economic crisis, a product of both the worldwide
capitalist contraction and disastrous policies by Mugabe’s government
designed to enrich his family and allies. In the midst of uncontrollable
inflation in 2009 the government abandoned the currency, the Zimbabwe
dollar. While the U.S. dollar replaced it in larger-scale commerce, for
the overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe’s people barter became the norm.
Over 90 percent of Zimbabwean toilers live outside what the government
calls its “formal economy.”
A day prior to Mnangagwa’s inauguration, the International Monetary Fund
warned the new government would have to pay its arrears to imperialist
financial institutions on its debt, before further credit would be
extended.
The IMF — which exists to enforce the dictates of Washington and other
imperialist powers — specializes in imposing “tough love” on regimes
that fall behind in payments to their bondholders, demanding they find
the funds owed by taking them out of the hides of working people. The
government of Zimbabwe owes $550 million to the IMF, $1.126 billion to
the World Bank, $529 million to the African Development Bank and $221
million to the European Investment Bank.
Beijing propped up Mugabe gov’t
Beijing had helped prop up the Mugabe government, with over $1 billion
in low-interest loans between 2010 and 2015, when Washington, London and
other imperialist powers sought to isolate the country. As the economic
crisis deepened, the Wall Street Journal reports Beijing at the end of
2015 refused further assistance and urged Mugabe to rely on deals with
the IMF.
The Chinese government’s connections to Zanu-PF go back to the
liberation struggle that brought down the British-backed white-minority
government in what they called Rhodesia. The party, one wing of the
anti-colonial movement that led the country to independence in 1980, got
weapons and training from Beijing and was politically influenced by the
Stalinist leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in power at the time.
Under Mugabe’s leadership, the newly independent government embarked on
an anti-working-class course, unleashing a rule of terror on political
opponents and on the Ndebele peoples in the west of the country, killing
tens of thousands. Zanu-PF was based largely among Mugabe’s Shona
people, a majority of the country’s population.
Beijing and Zimbabwe
Beijing swiftly congratulated Mnangagwa on his appointment. The rulers
in China are concerned first and foremost with defending their position
in Africa and their expanding economic clout. “Chinese investment in
Zimbabwe has also fallen victim to Mugabe’s policy and some projects
were forced to close down or move to other countries in recent years,
bringing huge losses,” wrote the Chinese state newspaper Global Times
Nov. 17. “Bilateral cooperation did not realize its potential under
Mugabe’s rule.”
The massive development of Chinese industry over three decades has
driven capitalists there to expand their interests worldwide, including
in Zimbabwe and other African nations. They seek political influence and
access to markets and raw materials.
Chinese trade with African nations rose 20-fold between 2000 and 2014.
Chinese companies have sought to extract cobalt, oil, copper, iron ore
and uranium from countries across the continent. And they are also
building roads and other infrastructure and setting up factories, adding
to the rising numbers of African toilers drawn off the land. The
accompanying expansion of the working class in Africa is an important
social advance and a token for the future. Over time this fuels class
antagonisms.
Beijing extended substantial loans and aid to the Mugabe regime in
Zimbabwe to build infrastructure and extend the potential for production
and trade. They sold arms and invested in diamond and gold mines,
construction and agricultural production.
Map of Chinese-funded rail line connecting port of Djibouti, also site
of newly opened Chinese military base, with Addis Ababa, the capital of
Ethiopia. This is one of several rail construction projects initiated by
Beijing in East Africa aimed at expanding its trade and investment.
Investment from China topped $450 million in 2015 — more than half of
all foreign investment in the country. Beijing also bought up some 28
percent of all the country’s exports that year, including 54 percent of
its tobacco production.
What Chinese rulers are doing in Zimbabwe fits with other trade deals
and infrastructure projects across Africa. Recently completed and
projected Chinese rail construction would link several east and central
African nations.
As it is drawn deeper into economic and social conflict on the
continent, Beijing seeks to protect its interests by expanding its
military footprint. Chinese capitalists bought oil fields in Sudan prior
to the 2013 civil war there. As the conflict unfolded, Beijing sent an
infantry battalion to newly independent South Sudan. This summer Beijing
opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti.
While Washington remains the dominant imperialist economic and military
power on the planet, Beijing is expanding its reach across Africa and Asia.
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