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| Africa Subsaharan |
| China says Mugabe 'old friend' as Zimbabwe head visits |
| 2011-11-17 |
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping called Bob MuggsyMugabe Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... "an old friend of China" Wednesday, state media said, as the Zim-bob-wean president visited the country to attend his daughter's graduation. At a meeting between the two in Beijing, Mugabe -- who has been accused of widespread human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuses in his country -- also said he appreciated China's support, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Calling Mugabe "an old friend of China", Xi, who is currently Vice President, said Beijing wanted to cooperate further with Zim-bob-we in "trade, agriculture, mining and infrastructure", the report said. "China... supports Zim-bob-we to explore its own development path in accordance with its national conditions," Xi -- widely expected to take over from current President Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Societyapproach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... in 2013 -- was quoted as saying. China has invested billions of dollars in Africa -- including Zim-bob-we -- raising eyebrows in the West, but many African leaders have praised the rising Asian giant for not preaching about human rights and corruption. Mugabe's visit comes after he travelled to Hong Kong -- to attend his daughter's graduation on Tuesday -- with a group of about 20 people including his wife, Grace. China is not party to international sanctions on Mugabe, who is the subject of a Western travel ban and asset freeze. During his meeting with Xi, the Zim-bob-wean President said he wanted to work more closely with China in agriculture, infrastructure and minerals, Xinhua said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 "I for one am going to boycott all Zim-bob-wean goods" What goods? Isn't their most plentiful product misery? |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-11-17 22:29 |
| #7 I apologize for my fat iPhone thumbs. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2011-11-17 21:17 |
| #6 I for one am going to boycott all Zim-bob-wean goods this X-Mas. Take that bobby boy! |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2011-11-17 20:23 |
| #5 rj: I'm -moose not -mouse. -mouse is a different poster. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-11-17 13:37 |
| #4 I agree anonymouse but I think the Chinese are building on anti-colonial resentment in Africa. They don't care if its a dictatorship or a democracy, they just want access and the anti-colonial card is a powerful card. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-11-17 10:36 |
| #3 Buy American this Christmas! |
| Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 2011-11-17 09:34 |
| #2 There needs to be an internationalist movement in both China and Russia to change the national attitude in both nations against *foreign* dictators and tyrants. In all fairness, the US used to do that itself, encourage such dictators and tyrants, as long as it profited us, but eventually the light dawned that such people were creating more long term problems than they were worth. Both China and Russia still have the insular idea that "what happens over there is of no consequence here", which was actually worse in the US because we had two ocean barriers to annoying foreigners, but the world is not like that anymore. It is a hard lesson to learn. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-11-17 09:12 |
| #1 Zim-bob-we has been exploited by everyone else, I guess it's China's turn. |
| Posted by: Spot 2011-11-17 07:53 |