Screaming headlines in the last few days about arms shipment from China to Zimbabwe have spurred serious debate regarding the new imperialist tendencies of China. When you take into account the Darfur crisis and China’s partisan interest in the region, working in concert with the Sudanese government to perpetuate atrocities on the helpless black Sudanese, you wonder what in the world is happening in Africa, especially with the massive influx of Chinese in the continent. Additionally, it was reported that the Chinese authorities have saddled Nigeria with billions of dollars in loans.
Another development is the reported shipment of arms from China with destination to Zimbabwe which was turned away from docking at several ports in the southern part of the continent because of serious concern that the weapons will be used to crush the opposition in Zimbabwe.
Mr. Robert Mugabe who lost in the last election and is trying to stage a coup by refusing to surrender power, will undoubtedly use these new supplies of ammunitions to re-consolidate power. The battered images we see on television and the economic disaster in that country is least important to the Chinese. What is likely their nefarious reasons for a string of unholy activities in Africa? Is China the new imperial power with dubious intentions in Africa?
Glad, folks are fighting back. I ran into this piece of information about the Chinese consideration to recall their ill fated ship back to China because of docking difficulties.
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