{"id":1132,"date":"2017-11-17T01:24:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T01:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2017-11-17T01:24:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T01:24:21","slug":"zimbabwe-army-chiefs-trip-to-china-last-week-raises-questions-on-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2017\/11\/17\/zimbabwe-army-chiefs-trip-to-china-last-week-raises-questions-on-coup\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe army chief’s trip to China last week raises questions on coup"},"content":{"rendered":"

When one of the architects of Zimbabwe\u2019s low-key coup<\/a> landed in Beijing last week he was met by two of the most senior members of the world\u2019s largest military force.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina and Zimbabwe are all-weather friends,\u201d the head of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), Gen Constantino Guveya Chiwenga, was told by Li Zuocheng, chief of the joint staff of China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA), according to a defence ministry report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe, Chiwenga told his host,<\/a> was \u201cwilling to deepen exchanges and cooperation in all fields with China to promote the rapid development of bilateral state and military relations between the two countries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two days later, the ZDF chief sat down with China\u2019s defence minister, Gen Chang Wanquan, thanking him<\/a> for Beijing\u2019s \u201clong-time selfless help\u201d.<\/p>\n

Little else is known about why Chiwenga, who is seen as an ally of Zimbabwe\u2019s ousted vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa<\/a>, made the call on the Chinese capital, just days before the army chief would declare that the military was ready to \u201cstep in\u201d over Robert Mugabe\u2019s purge of the ruling party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China<\/a>, which has backed Mugabe since the anti-colonial struggle of the 1970s, is also now Harare\u2019s largest foreign investor, pumping huge sums into the Zimbabwean economy in exchange for natural resources and agricultural products such as diamonds and tobacco.<\/p>\n

Recent years have seen China or state-linked Chinese firms bankroll developments including the $100m Zimbabwe National Defence College<\/a> and the $200m Longcheng Plaza shopping centre<\/a> in Harare. Last year China agreed<\/a> to help fund a new 650-seat parliament building in the north of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, as the 93-year-old strongman president was placed under house arrest in Harare, the foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang claimed Chiwenga\u2019s visit had been part of \u201ca normal military exchange\u201d. Geng was cagey, however, about what exactly Chiwenga had been doing in China: \u201cAs for the details of his visit, I have little to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geng also tried to scotch speculation that after his sacking last week, Mnangagwahad fled to China, where he is reported to have received military training in the past.<\/p>\n