From Diplomacy to Contestation: Paradigm Shifts in the Zambia-China Relations, 1964-2011

Between 1964 and 2011, relations between Zambia and China saw paradigm shifts from ‘mutual’ diplomatic relations to economic relations and eventually to contestation. China was an important pillar of the anti-colonial struggle in Zambia and the southern African sub-region. She provided economic and morale aid, logistical support, infrastructure building and education training for Zambia and other southern African countries. From 1964 until 1971, Zambia gave unflinching diplomatic support to China’s cause for readmission to the United Nations. The 1964-2011 period saw the Zambia-China relationship undergo trio paradigm shifts; from China being an aid and loans provider to being an investor, from Chinese state-directed aid and loans to Chinese state and private investments in Zambia. From 2000, the Zambian people contested what they saw as Chinese invasion of their economic space. This paper explores these paradigm shifts in the Zambia-China relations between 1964 and 2011. The paper investigates whether China’s relationship with Zambia gravitated from a benefactor-beneficiary relationship to ‘mutual’ benefit; punctuated by contestation by Zambians or whether the relations were tantamount to a Chinese “colonisation†of Zambia’s economic landscape. Data for this paper was collected from official Zambian and Chinese government records and correspondence at the National Archives of Zambia. Other data was collected from the Archives of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) in Lusaka and from newspapers and secondary sources. These sources were subjected to comprehensive literature analysis to arrive at the conclusion that 1964 and 2011 the Zambia-China relations underwent three paradigm shifts from ‘mutual’ diplomatic relations to economic relations and eventually to contestation between.