by Bayano Valy – SANF 07 No 12
Mozambique and China have strengthened economic, political and historical links by signing various cooperation agreements during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Maputo.
The agreements included debt cancellation of US$20 million for loans dating back to 1980.
Under a new series of soft loan agreements, China is to disburse about US$155 million, with a further US$40 million coming from the China Eximbank to be invested in public infrastructure in Mozambique.
A pilot centre on agricultural technology will be built in the northern province of Nampula with Chinese assistance.
In addition, China will also provide Mozambique with an interest-free loan of US$15 million for the construction of a new national stadium – to enable the country to benefit through provision of warm-up facilities for the FIFA World Cup to be held in neighbouring South Africa in 2010.
Hu said trade between the two countries has grown to around US$200 million a year, six times what it was in 2001, and Mozambique’s exports to China continue to rise.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza called for further expansion of relations with China. He said the current agreements are “valuable in complementing the efforts of the Mozambican people”, but will not address all of the challenges in the struggle against poverty.
“We believe that much more can be done for our mutual benefit. We must continue to deepen our excellent relations of friendship and cooperation, link the enormous potential existing in Mozambique to Chinese technologies, and diversify partnerships between businesses of our two countries,” Guebuza said.
Hu said China is willing to join efforts with the Mozambican government and people to “enrich the traditional friendship between the two people, and constantly lead bilateral relations to new heights.”
The Chinese president added that, “in the spirit of equality and openness, China and Africa should strengthen cooperation between their cultural institutions, their media and their academic bodies.”
He told Guebuza that his government values the traditional Sino-Mozambican friendship, including Mozambique’s recognition of a One-China policy, with Taiwan seen as part of a reunified China.
China hosted a summit with African leaders in Beijing three months ago, attended by almost all African countries.
The summit developed a platform where China and Africa found consensus on the establishment of a new type of strategic partnerships for the next three years.
Hu Jintao’s visit to Mozambique and seven other African countries – which started on 30 January in Cameroon – is a step towards putting into action the outcome of the China-Africa summit.
During the struggle for Mozambique’s independence in the 1960s and 1970s, China supported the movement that was fighting against Portuguese colonialism, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, FRELIMO. China has continued to assist Mozambique’s post-independence development under a FRELIMO government.
However, due to the conflict with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, the end of the “cold war” between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Mozambique’s need to adhere to the conditions of the Bretton Woods institutions from 1984, other links were put on the back burner.
Since the end of the war of destabilisation in 1992, Mozambique has made great strides in its economic and social recovery. However, aid from Western institutions comes with stringent conditionalities and, like other African countries, Mozambique has decided that the way forward is to diversify its partners.
