China competing head-on with South Africa for Zimbabwean trade

As in the rest of Africa the question of Chinese influence on the local economy and the government regularly crops up in conversations. Growing Chinese imports keep the freight and shipping industries busy, and Zimbabwean sales teams now travel regularly to trade shows in China rather than Britain or Europe. For an in-your-face experience of the Chinese presence in Africa all one has to do is to visit Harare’s Loncheng Plaza, which opened in December 2013. The mixed-use complex consisting of 108 shops, offices, restaurants and an amusement park is a joint venture between Chinese and Zimbabwean investors. Signs on the corridors in the office block are in Chinese, and the cash registers in the main store print out receipts in Chinese. South African retailers will be looking at this with some concern – it is one of a growing number of China Malls throughout the continent. According to the Longcheng website there are three China Malls in South Africa. “The Chinese have managed to accomplish at least one impressive thing in Africa – they have made everyone else uncomfortable,” says Alexis Okeowo in an article published in The New Yorker. “The Americans are uneasy, worried about (and perhaps jealous of) China’s rapid and profitable investments throughout the continent. “Europeans have only to look at trade figures: the share of Africa’s exports that China receives has shot up from one to 15% over the past decade, while the European Union’s share has fallen from 36% to 23% “Some Africans [too] have become unhappy with unbalanced relationships in which China has taken proprietorship of African natural resources using Chinese labour and equipment without transferring skills and technology.” In Zimbabwe, the other elephant in the room is the question of what happens when there is a successor to president Robert Mugabe, who is now 90. “Although the extent of China’s involvement will make it difficult for any successor to discountenance it, there is also the distinct possibility that a successor will want to bring about some form of accommodation with the West after more than a decade of disagreement,” says Obiodun Alao in an occasional paper written for the South African Institute of International Affairs. “This may reduce, even if minimally, China’s grip on the affairs of the country,” he adds. The logistics industry will be monitoring developments with interest. They will determine whether the trade flows to and from China will continue growing or if historic networks will need to be revived and strengthened. CAPTION Signs in the corridors of the Longcheng Plaza in Harare are in Chinese. This is one of the few that has an English translation.