WHEN President Michael Sata received credentials from the new Chinese Ambassador to Zambia at State House yesterday, he reiterated what leaders of the two countries have previously talked about.
This is the need for the incoming Chinese envoy to work for the good of the two countries in a manner that even to date has made both nations all-weather friends.
This call was amplified by the Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Youming Yang, when he hailed the cordial relations that have existed between Zambia and the People’s Republic of China over the past 50 years.
China has indeed been an all-weather friend of sub-Saharan African countries, including Zambia, which nations the giant Asian nation had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with even before independence.
China is, for instance, one of the world powers that supported liberation movements in Africa financially and materially.
Following the liberation from colonial rule, China was among the first overseas countries that independent Africa established diplomatic relations with.
In addition, no single African country could ever resist the temptation of further strengthening the ties with the People’s Republic of China, which, in nearly all colonies, were started long before independence.
Of course pre-independence relations between African countries and China were largely political, but these expanded in post-independence-era to include economic ties.
This became inevitable because Africa has simply been hugely blessed with enormous raw materials, which development economists are enough to capture the attention of any industrialised and/or industrialising country, including China.
The African continent is, indeed, the world’s powerhouse of untapped natural resources, with countries like Zambia, for instance, home to large mineral deposits such as copper, gemstones of all types and other minerals, some of which are yet to be exploited.
As a result, Zambia, like many African countries, has been the focus of nations wishing to tap into its natural resources.
To date, the country remains an attractive bait to investors, including many Chinese firms that are currently doing business here in such areas as mining, construction as well as trading.
The mining sector particularly has witnessed what some observers say an astronomical increase of Chinese Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
However, these Chinese investments, like the practices obtaining in many Chinese-run companies doing business here, have not been without criticism.
Such criticisms, raised mainly by Western human rights organisations, range from low pay for long working hours to the seemingly hazardous work environments.
It is true China has a huge stake in Zambian-based mining firms. In addition, the Chinese companies are involved in nation-wide road and hydropower construction and other projects.
In all these projects, what is clear is that Chinese companies cannot be singled out as exploiters of Zambian workers and Zambian resources, but should rather be seen more as partners in the country’s development.
More important, China’s partnership with African countries like Zambia is based on sincere friendship, equality and mutual respect for the host country’s sovereignty.
Thus unlike some of Zambia’s Western development partners, who tie their aid to so many conditionalities, China has a longstanding policy of non-interference in other countries’ domestic affairs.
For this reason, even loans and grants the People’s Republic of China offers are more development-oriented with no strings attached.
In the end, this policy tends to work for the good of either party, and President Sata knows well what he is talking about when he reminds Mr Yang to do this.