People's Republic of China - Zimbabwe Relations (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. China-Zimbabwe relations date back to January 1979, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Soviet Union supported Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union, and supplied them with arms; Robert Mugabe's attempts to gain Soviet support for his Zimbabwe African National Union were rebuffed, leading him to enter into relations with Soviet rival Beijing, culminating in a January 1979 meeting in Mozambique in which both sides affirmed their intent to cooperate more closely. The two countries formally established diplomatic relations on 18 April 1980, the day of Zimbabwe's independence. Two months later, Zimbabwe's foreign minister Simon Muzenda visited Beijing to express his thanks; he was followed by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe himself the next year.