China wants 'illegal' EU, US sanctions on Zimbabwe lifted

China through its Foreign Minister Wang Yi have made a call for economic sanctions against Zimbabwe to be lifted.

Yi wrapped his whirlwind Africa tour with a visit to Harare where he made the call after a meeting with his Zimbabwean counterpart Sibususo Moyo.

“The unilateral sanctions imposed by some countries and organisations on Zimbabwe have no basis in international law and they violate the legitimate development rights and interests of Zimbabwe,” he is reported to have said.

The said sanctions are those imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United States (US). It affects top politicians as well as companies. They were imposed due to a lack of progress in democratic and human rights reforms as well as restrictions on press freedoms.

The Chinese FM’s tour which Beijing said was to follow up on the results China-Africa summit held in 2018 stretched from Egypt through much of East Africa before ending in Zimbabwe.

Before flying to Zimbabwe, Wang was in Burundi. He started out in Egypt before going through Eritrea, Djibouti and Kenya. Sino-Africa relations have sored in the last few years despite skepticism over the Asian giants real intentions.

China’s trade with Africa has grown 20-fold – surpassing the United States in 2009 – to US$204 billion in 2018, according to figures from China’s commerce ministry.