Chinese-built solar panels at Centragrid power plant in Nyabira, Zimbabwe, 22 June 2020 [Xinhua]
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Geopolitics
African business executives (72%) expect to expand Belt and Road investment, as G7 announces rival infrastructure project without details
62% of survey respondents say they will maintain or increase their involvement with BRI-linked projects to meet infrastructure shortfall (US $108 billion annually continent-wide); G7’s “Build Back Better” promises US $40 trillion (2035) without concrete plans
Report: CMS Law, June 2021
In Uganda, Sino-US consortium (Sinopec/McDermott) wins bid to build US $2 billion oil facility to extract 200,000 barrels/day
Construction and operation expected to generate 20,000 jobs and local workforce training opportunities; Lake Albert basin project is a partnership between TotalEnergies (France), CNOOC (China) and National Oil Company (Uganda)
People’s Life and Culture
Zimbabwe’s historical relations and “Look East Policy” (2003) have yielded US $10.45 billion investments (2005-2020) from China
From material assistance to military and ideological training during anti-colonial period (1960-1980), bilateral relations resulted in funding of Chinese language courses, projects such as Hwange Thermal Power Plant (US $1.2 billion), and 80 Chinese SOEs in the country
Between 1960-70s, Chinese guerrilla warfare experts trained African liberation fighters, from Half Assini (Ghana) to Mgagao (Tanzania)