Zimbabwe in a jubilant mood to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping

HARARE, Monday

With Chinese and Zimbabwean national flags fluttering along the newly revamped airport road and leading newspapers devoting substantial space to China-Zimbabwe relations, the African nation is in a jubilant mood to receive a distinguished guest from the Asian country.

Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Harare on Tuesday for his first state visit to Zimbabwe, which last hosted a Chinese head of state in 1996.

The trip is endowed with an extra layer of significance as this year marks the 35th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.  During Mr Xi’s stay in Harare, the two sides are expected to ink a series of cooperation deals covering such fields as infrastructure construction, investment, financing, culture and wildlife protection.

In an article published by leading Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald prior to the visit, Mr Xi said he looks forward to having in-depth exchanges of views with his Zimbabwean counterpart, Mr Robert Mugabe.

FRIENDSHIP WILL BLOOM

“I am convinced that with the dedicated cultivation of the Chinese and Zimbabwean peoples, the flower of China-Zimbabwe friendship will bloom with even brighter splendour,” Mr Xi said in the piece, which was entitled “Let the Flower of China-Zimbabwe Friendship Bloom with New Splendour.”

Mr Xi’s belief is rooted deeply in the shared will of both countries.

China and Zimbabwe boast a time-honoured brotherly relationship that dates back to the former’s provision of substantial assistance for the latter’s struggle for national liberation and independence.

During Mr Mugabe’s state visit to China in August 2014, the two countries pledged to be good friends, good partners and good brothers that treat each other as equals, support each other and pursue win-win cooperation and common development.

In April this year, Mr Xi and Mr Mugabe held a meeting in Jakarta on the sidelines of an Asian and African leaders’ summit, and vowed to make concerted efforts to lift bilateral relations to higher levels.

MUTUAL TRUST

In a recent press briefing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming said Beijing expects the two countries to seize the opportunity presented by Xi’s visit to further cement their traditional friendship and political mutual trust, chart the course for the future development of bilateral ties, boost cooperation in a host of areas, and translate their friendly relations into real benefits for the two peoples. Those expectations are widely echoed in Zimbabwe.

Calling China Zimbabwe’s “best friend” on the international stage, Mr Mugabe told Xinhua in a recent interview that Mr Xi’s visit marks a significant event in the development of bilateral relations and that he will confer with Xi on bilateral cooperation in multiple areas.

PUBLIC-WELFARE PROJECTS

Harare, he said, hopes that China will help Zimbabwe carry out some key economic and public-welfare projects so as to speed up the country’s socioeconomic development.

Mr Simon Khaya Moyo, minister of policy coordination and promotion of socioeconomic ventures in the President’s Office, told Xinhua that Mr Xi’s state visit to Zimbabwe is of landmark significance and makes the Zimbabwean people “feel proud.” China has made important contributions to Zimbabwe’s economic and social development, and it is thanks to the large amount of Chinese investment that Zimbabwe now has so many projects under construction, he added.