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Hu pledges $800m to Zambia
05/02/2007 16:00 - (SA)
Lusaka - Chinese President Hu Jintao heads to Namibia on Monday, his fifth stop on an African tour, after pledging $800m in investments, debt write-offs and a "showcase" free trade zone in Zambia, where Beijing's economic juggernaut has sparked tensions.
China is looking to Africa to feed much of its growing need for energy and natural resources, but its close links with regimes in countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe have raised concerns in the West.
Zambia was Hu's fourth stop in Africa after Cameroon, Liberia and Sudan. After Namibia he will go on to South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles.
Hu and his Zambian counterpart Levy Mwanawasa announced that a "special trade and economic zone" would be set up in the copper-rich country's mining town of Chambeshi, north of the capital Lusaka.
Firms operating in trade zone
"This economic trade zone is the first of its kind in Africa. It is also a showcase of Africa-China business co-operation," said Hu, whose country's avid courtship of Africa has fuelled charges that Beijing was only interested in exploiting the continent's mineral and oil wealth.
Hu had earlier pledged $800m to develop Zambia's copper mines, waived about $8m of Zambia's debt due last year and vowed to give $150 000 to help with damage caused by recent floods.
The two presidents also said firms operating in the trade zone, to be built between now and 2010, would benefit from tax breaks and other concessions.
Mwanawasa, who has been attacked by Zambia's main opposition leader Michael Sata, an acerbic critic of Beijing, stressed that the free trade zone should provide a level playing field.
"I wish to suggest that both Chinese and Zambian investors must be given equal business opportunities at the economic zone," Mwanawasa told a joint press conference.
Third-largest foreign investor
"It is my government's hope that more and more Chinese investors will partner with Zambian businesses in establishing companies at the economic zone. This is important for our citizen's empowerment programme."
Bilateral trade between Zambia and China, the third-largest foreign investor in the country, grew by 11.8% last year to $316m, the Zambia-China Business Forum said on Sunday.
There are about 180 Chinese firms doing business in Zambia.
Hu's itinerary for Sunday was severely curtailed by Lusaka in the wake of planned protests against the alleged exploitation of local workers by Chinese firms and the supposed plunder of the country's mineral resources.
A trip to a Chinese-run copper mine in the north, where a blast in 2005 killed 50 Zambians, was cancelled after reports of planned demonstrations.
Hu had also been due to commission a $200m copper smelter in Chambeshi and lay the foundation stone of a giant Chinese-funded stadium at Ndola in the country's copperbelt province.
Zambia enforced tight security during the trip, confined Hu to Lusaka and did not invite opposition leader Sata to any public function with the visiting leader.
Hu on Sunday met with Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda after holding talks with parliament speaker Amussa Mwanamwambwa.
Unswerving commitment
Hu meanwhile underlined that ties between Zambia, the first southern African nation to establish diplomatic links with China 42 years ago, and Beijing had "endured the test of changes in the international arena and both countries' domestic situation."
He also thanked Zambia for its unswerving commitment to the one-China policy.
Chinese investment in Zambia - mainly in mining, textile and construction - has soared in recent years but the litany of complaints is growing.
Many Zambians accuse Chinese companies of paying low wages, ignoring basic safety standards and bringing scores of Chinese workers in to do jobs meant to be reserved for locals.
Last week, workers of the recently closed Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles, the country's largest textile mill, protested outside the Chinese embassy to complain about poor wages, mistreatment and the temporary closure of the plant because of massive losses.
- SAPA
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