Beijing Newspeak

This post is balancing on the edge of the out-of-date shelf but I feel like I’m playing catch-up after two weeks at home (voluntarily) wrapped in China-resistant clingfilm. One story that did fox the sieve while I was away was Richard Spencer’s story in the Daily Telegraph headlined “China to withdraw backing for Mugabe”. 

Robert Mugabe is to lose vital support from one of his few remaining allies on the world stage, China.

One of the Zimbabwe president’s oldest diplomatic friends, China yesterday told Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, that it was dropping all assistance except humanitarian aid.

The move follows a decision by China, a permanent member of the United Nations security council, to work more closely with the international community in bringing pressure to bear on “rogue regimes”. It represents a major shift in its previous policy of refusing to attack the internal policies of long-standing allies.

“I was told that Chinese assistance to Zimbabwe was now limited to humanitarian assistance, which is enormously important,” Lord Malloch Brown said. “That puts it in the same position as Britain, which is the second biggest provider of humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe.”

The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe was first to deny a change in stance, a week after the Telegraph report was published, through a report released by Xinhua’s bureau in Harare.

The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe on Tuesday dismissed as false media reports claiming that China has withdrawn all assistance except humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe.

A spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy said contrary to the reports, Zimbabwe and China share a long history of friendship and have cooperation agreements in various fields which include agriculture, education, health, and science and technology.

“Recently, some media published reports claiming that China was dropping all assistance except humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe. The Embassy of China in Zimbabwe wishes to clarify that this is simply not the fact,” said the spokesperson.

Of course if the Chinese government really wished to reject Malloch Brown’s comments it would do so through the Foreign Ministry. But that would be against all known laws of diplomacy. I’m always wary about analysing the specific vocabulary used in Xinhua’s English language service because I know how inconsistent it can be. On this occasion, however, the report does emphasise the distinction between the Communist Party and the central government.

The spokesperson added that apart from assistance promised to Zimbabwe during the visit by Chinese Communist Party senior official, Jia Qinglin, in April, the two governments had also concluded negotiations for China to supply Zimbabwe with 4,000 tons of soybeans.

“During the visit by Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, to Zimbabwe this April, China promised to help build two primary schools, one hospital and an Agriculture Technology Demonstration Center in Zimbabwe.

This point is made by a Harare-based journalist writing anonymously for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting:

The Chinese embassy in Harare issued a statement on September 4 denying any policy u-turn and citing ongoing projects as evidence of continued collaboration. However, analysts attributed this to “diplomatic double speak” and said the embassy statement referred to the policy of the Chinese Communist Party and not the government, which Malloch Brown was referring to.

At this point it would be useful to note that Hu Jintao did not visit Zimbabwe on a tour of southern Africa at the beginning of the year. In addition, one of my colleagues at Xinhua was most disappointed, while on a reporting trip to Africa before the China-Africa Cooperation Forum last November, to find that a planned interview between a delegation of Xinhua journalists and Mugabe was cancelled at the last minute.

An interesting article by South Africa’s Mail & Guardian (linked here via zwnews.com) on Monday quoted a British diplomatic source in Harare saying the reports of China scaling down aid were a “gross exaggeration”.

The picture clouds further with these comments:

Christopher Burke, a research fellow at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Chinese Studies, doubted whether China had changed its policy toward Zimbabwe. He said none of the Chinese government officials he has been in contact with is aware of a change in the government’s policy toward Zimbabwe. Burke said much of the trade between China and Zimbabwe is conducted using barter and exchange, a form of commerce that requires a “high degree of goodwill”. “I do not expect we will see any significant changes in Beijing’s policy toward Harare,” Burke said.

For good measure the conflicting view is also put forward at length in the same article. An extract:

However, Garth le Pere, executive director at the Institute for Global Dialogue, said China has been scaling down its involvement in Zimbabwe. “That has been the trend since 2005,” he said.

And another:

“A range of factors has soured the bilateral relationship,” Le Pere said, pointing out that thousands of textile workers in Zimbabwe have lost their jobs because of cheap Chinese imports. He said the joint venture that established a cement manufacturing company in Gweru has suffered because of poor infrastructure, energy and transport problems. Le Pere said China’s involvement in Africa is propelled by its own economic interests, which are the basis of any political engagements. There is a growing realisation that the agreements that have been entered into have not borne fruit, largely because of the economic crisis, he said, describing the relationship as “unpredictable”. Although China has a policy of non-interference in sovereign states “it can’t turn a blind eye to what is going on”, Le Pere said. However, he argued, if the security council proposed sanctions against Zimbabwe, China would veto the move.

Well, whatever the true situation, Xinhua News Agency continues to skip happily hand in hand with Zimbabwean “local media”, according to this article published in the Zimbabwean government-run newspaper The Herald (linked via allAfrica.com) on August 25.

Xinhua provides its news service free of charge to many countries in Africa who can’t afford to pay the subscription fee. This results in some African media relying on Xinhua for its news coverage in the absence of a Reuters or AP package. In return, the Chinese government has more opportunity to spread its take on international affairs around the continent. (Note to African media actually paying for Xinhua’s service: don’t!) It is clear The Herald has learnt carefully from Xinhua’s news style, and indeed taken it to another level, judged by this opening paragraph:

XINHUA, a Chinese international news agency, has pledged to continue working with and supporting Zimbabwean media to correct the distortions peddled by the hostile Western media on the situation in the country.

Xinhua’s Harare bureau chief nicely demonstrated how much time Xinhua journalists spend in their agency compounds when posted abroad:

Speaking after handing over two computers to Herald Editor Pikirayi Deketeke and the Head of New Ziana Rangarirai Shoko, Xinhua Harare bureau chief correspondent Li Nuer said the agency would do its best to help the country overcome the challenges.

“We thought we should do something as we are good corporate partners.

“The most important factor is the bilateral relations enjoyed between our two countries.

“As media, when Zimbabwe is facing challenges, we do our best to promote the country, especially with the Western media distortions on the true picture in Zimbabwe,” Nuer said.

He said the agency, which has over 100 bureaus all over the world, would continue to assist Zimbabwe by disseminating information on the real situation in the country.

“We want to help you overcome your difficulties and we hope this will further strengthen our relationship,” he said.

“Disseminating”. Good choice of word that. Plenty of negative connotations. And two computers I hear you cry! Well, the gift may not be generous as it seems. The hub of Xinhua’s operations in Xuanwumen (where I work) has just moved to its newly renovated office tower and is overflowing with brand spanking new technology. There were a few rusty PC models lying around as a result.