Britain, China and Zimbabwe

Britain has an active programme of engagement with China on African issues and the most recent round took place in Beijing where the British government emphasised to China the need for balanced support for Zimbabwe’s inclusive government, a British Minister of State Jeremy Browne told Parliament on Tuesday.

He had been asked by a conservative Member of Parliament what representation the British government was making to the Chinese government on its support for Zimbabwe.

China is usually viewed as favouring President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front which it has had ties with since the 1960s when it sponsored its liberation fighters, while the other major partner in the inclusive government Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change gets more support from the West.

Browne said that the British government had also stressed to the Chinese government the importance of conducting business in a transparent manner.

China has said it could invest as much as $10 billion in Zimbabwe and there are fears that this could prop Mugabe or his party.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was in Zimbabwe last week to strengthen relations between the two countries and met both Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

Tsvangirai assured the foreign minister that the inclusive government would not collapse.

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