“China has always been a good comrade and partner in Africa’s quest for national liberation, development and rejuvenation,” Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote on Wednesday in a reply letter to veterans of Zimbabwe’s national liberation war.
In his letter, Xi noted that in their youth, the veterans devoted themselves to the great cause of national liberation, left their homelands, and forged with China a profound friendship and comradeship in the struggle.
The profound friendship and earnest expectations conveyed in the letter have greatly inspired Zimbabwean veterans and evoked warm responses across Africa, resonating deeply with the two peoples’ shared aspiration to work together to build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era and to write a new chapter in China-Africa friendship.
LASTING FRIENDSHIP
China has firmly supported Africa’s struggle against imperialism and colonialism and the continent’s cause of national liberation. During Zimbabwe’s national liberation struggle in the 1960s and 1970s, many fighters received training in China or from Chinese instructors in Africa, creating enduring stories in the history of the two countries’ relations.
Ahead of his state visit to Zimbabwe in 2015, Xi published a signed article in Zimbabwean media, recalling the profound and time-tested friendship between the two countries.
“During the national liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, the Chinese people steadfastly stood behind the Zimbabwean people as comrades in arms. I was touched to learn that many Zimbabwean freedom fighters who received training from the Chinese side both in China and at Nachingwea camp in Tanzania can still sing songs such as the ‘Three Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention’,” Xi wrote.
William Murumbuzi, a Zimbabwean veteran, told Xinhua that he was deeply impressed by Xi’s signed article in 2015 and felt excited to participate in writing the letter to Xi and receive a reply from him.
“For many years, President Xi has kept this friendship close to his heart. His reply makes us feel deeply honored and moved,” he said.
“We wanted to write to President Xi to tell him that we will never forget this experience, nor will we ever forget the friendship between Zimbabwe and China,” Humphrey Makuyana, another veteran, told Xinhua in an interview.
According to Makuyana, the training he received from Chinese instructors deepened his understanding of the bond between the army and the people. “We were the fish, and the people were the water in which we should live.”
“Though separated by thousands of miles, our hearts have always been connected, and justice and dignity remain the umbilical bond between our two peoples,” the veterans wrote in the letter to Xi.
In his reply letter, Xi expressed the hope that the veterans will inspire more African youth to devote themselves to the cause of China-Zimbabwe and China-Africa friendship.
“CHINA ALWAYS DELIVERS ON ITS COMMITMENTS”
During the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, China and Zimbabwe signed a series of cooperation documents in the presence of the two heads of state.
After retiring from military service, Murumbuzi has been working for a private company and has maintained close cooperation with Chinese partners, giving him firsthand insight into the implementation of the summit outcomes.
He noted that China has consistently advocated common development with its African partners, and that Chinese technologies and experience are helping African countries, including Zimbabwe, create jobs and improve people’s livelihoods.
“This model of mutually beneficial cooperation has enabled us to feel what a shared future truly means, and it has strengthened my confidence in Africa and China advancing toward modernization hand in hand,” he said.
Two years ago, Zindi, a village in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province, was a poor community plagued by water and electricity shortages. Today, the China-Zimbabwe agricultural cooperation demonstration village has undergone a striking transformation: solar-powered water pumps now provide a steady supply of clean water, while greenhouse facilities for scientific seed breeding complement green maize fields.
According to Weveson Zindi, the village head, the advanced farming and livestock-breeding techniques introduced by Chinese agricultural experts have significantly improved villagers’ living conditions.
“When it comes to China and Africa working hand in hand, it’s basically leaving no one behind, and this is what China has been trying to do over the years,” said Dennis Munene Mwaniki, executive director of the China-Africa Center at Kenya’s Africa Policy Institute.
“PARTNERSHIP THAT ENRICHES OUR LIVES”
In his reply letter, Xi stressed that 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and African nations as well as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
“President Xi has always attached great importance to people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa,” said Didier Dieudonne Nama, national pedagogic inspector of Chinese Language in the Ministry of Secondary Education of Cameroon, adding that as people-to-people exchanges deepen, the peoples of China and Africa will grow closer and more tightly connected.
Activities marking the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges have already begun, which are expected to deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and African peoples through exchanges in various fields and inject fresh momentum into building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.
“President Xi always values the bonds between the peoples of China and Africa,” said Humphrey Moshi, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. “China is our true friend and a true brother.”
“As we mark 70 years of China-Africa diplomatic ties, we celebrate a partnership that enriches our lives, a partnership of life-transforming people-to-people exchanges,” said Herbert Mushangwe, a professor at the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
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