In the time of the "struggle" for majority rule, China has been deeply disappointed by Africa.
First came the TANZAM railway line that was built by the Chinese in the 70's to transport copper from Zambia to Dar es Salaam and bypass Rhodesia and South Africa which were the original countries of passage and export ports.
The line was never maintained and ran only for a few months before it fell into terminal disrepair. Meanwhile, the Zambians were nationalizing their copper mines and turning them into unproductive holes in the ground.
There were many other Chinese investments that went sour after that, so the Chinese stopped African investment unless they could use their own people to build and run the projects. They seem mainly involved in agriculture now on the presumption that they can cope with drought and pests themselves, but the locals cant break the lands.
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Originally Posted by Flagg
Is the west even as relevant in Africa as it once was?
On my visits I noticed a scary number of inbound/outbound flights to China.
Considering Mugabe's ZANLA was directly supported by China and won, and the naive west and the Soviet Union's ZIPRA lost, I'd be thinking what happens in Beijing would be more relevant in Harare than what happens in Washington DC.
I heard from a couple Rhodesian/Zimbabweans that a big chunk of Zim's fertile land is run by Chinese outfits.
Maybe the next generation of "war veterans" who were born after the war will go after Chinese economic targets since the white and western interests are largely gone or already confiscated.
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