Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s attendance at this month’s military parade in Beijing highlighted long-standing ties with China, forged during the African nation’s liberation struggle.
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More than two dozen world leaders joined the Victory Day event in Tiananmen Square on September 3, when China put its military might on display.
Mnangagwa was one of just two leaders from Africa to attend the parade, along with Congo-Brazzaville President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
The following day, when Mnangagwa met Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the two nations elevated ties to an “all-weather community with a shared future”.
Xi described China’s “five-star ironclad” friendship with Zimbabwe as a model for the Global South. “China will continue to … oppose external interference and illegal sanctions,” he said.
The Chinese leader was referring to sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and other Western nations in the early 2000s over alleged human rights abuses and the seizure of land from white farmers.