Chiwenga’s China visit: Lessons and prospects for Zimbabwe’s economic transformation

BY GIDEON H CHITANGA

Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga undertook an official visit to China that ran into mid-September.

The visit came at a significant moment in Zimbabwe’s search for ways fast-track economic transformation, hence the need to strengthen economic ties and boost bilateral trade by courting major Chinese investors and companies.

The visit also provided close-up opportunities to learn from China’s experience of transformation and modernisation.

What lessons could Zimbabwe, a small and resource-rich agrarian country, derive from China? Which elements of China’s development experience can realistically be adapted to Zimbabwe’s circumstances?

The Chinese development model represents one of the most successful examples of comprehensive, rapid transformation, tech-driven industrialisation and poverty reduction. Chiwenga’s visit to China gave Zimbabwe an opportunity to study China’s development experience, especially its half-century-long industrialisation, infrastructure, energy, technology, urban development, and value addition.

There are many lessons Zimbabwe can draw from the Chinese experience, but they should be adapted to Zimbabwe’s own natural resources and agriculture-driven development. In particular, greater mineral beneficiation, domestic manufacturing, energy investment and technology transfer could help Zimbabwe move from an economy heavily dependent on the export of raw materials towards a more diversified productive economy. This explains the Vice-President’s emphasis on beneficiation and value addition and his outreach to Chinese investors to establish more stages of production at home to create opportunities for employment, supplier industries, skills development, tax revenues and diversified exports.

China emerged from a feudal agriculture-based economy to become a technological superpower with cutting-edge technology companies, the world’s largest high-speed rail network, extensive digital 5G infrastructure, high-end industrialisation and advanced technologies such as EVs and renewables. In a short half-century, China lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.

China’s industrial expansion was supported by strong State institutions, long-term planning and the ability to coordinate infrastructure, investment and industrial policy following decades of enabling economic reforms, social and political stability.

The growing inflow of foreign direct investment brought capital, advanced technology and managerial expertise. China also created enabling conditions to boost domestic innovation and production of new technologies, helping it rapidly close the technological gap with more developed economies. The reform-driven growth and modernisation spanned infrastructure, foreign investment, digital innovation and strategic industrial policy, driving sustained growth averaging over 9% annually.

The Government of Zimbabwe is leaning on its trade partners to enable and support value addition, emphasising the upgrading of domestic mining and lithium processing value chains to create jobs at home and drive economic growth.   Over the past two decades, the country has experienced economic volatility, low growth, high informality, and rising poverty.

The new Zimbabwe Growth and Jobs Report from the World Bank says that after two decades of macroeconomic instability and lacklustre growth, Zimbabwe has recently made genuine progress, with growth averaging almost 6% between 2021 and 2025, while local-currency inflation fell to single digits in early 2026 for the first time since 1997.

The report argues for major structural transformation of the economy, taking advantage of the recent period of relative macroeconomic stability, while noting new prospects for debt and arrears clearance.

It further highlights the need for broad-based economic transformation to mitigate high inequality and rampant poverty in the country through the growth and expansion of the formal economy and foundational infrastructure, and through the removal of regulatory hurdles so that businesses can prosper.

Zimbabwe needs to mobilise international and domestic capital and investment underpinned by macroeconomic stability and a sustainable debt-reduction strategy, enabling the government to direct resources towards higher-value industries and drive sustained broad-based transformation and tackle rampant inequality and poverty. Such an approach calls for strategic, well-coordinated intervention closely combining the roles of both the State and the market to encourage structural transformation.

The dynamic role of the state in the course of China’s sustained path of reform and growth could provide important lessons for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has a highly educated workforce and abundant natural resources.

Recent advances in prudent economic policy have ushered in a period of sustained macroeconomic stability.

Zimbabwe’s 2025 Country Policy and Institutional Assessment score suggests improving conditions for steady growth towards the government’s goal of attaining upper-middle-income country status, as set out in the Vision 2030 framework.

During his visit, Chiwenga emphasised that Zimbabwe wants to move beyond exporting raw minerals and instead develop local processing and manufacturing.

He specifically called for Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe to complete more stages of the manufacturing process locally, using Zimbabwean resources such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and iron ore to unlock industrialisation.

The experience of Chinese-invested companies such as Dinson Iron and Steel Company demonstrates how foreign investment can contribute to domestic industrial capacity.

Chinese and Zimbabwean officials have identified manufacturing upgrading and industrialisation as areas for greater cooperation through developing industries that produce steel, batteries, solar equipment and other manufactured goods.

China’s development has involved extensive investment in roads, railways, energy, telecommunications and urban infrastructure. Zimbabwe faces major infrastructure constraints, particularly in transport and electricity.

In June 2026, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe was exploring resource-linked financing with Chinese companies for roads and railways. Such arrangements could potentially mobilise capital for infrastructure that Zimbabwe might otherwise struggle to finance.

Chiwenga’s visit also highlighted China’s experience in energy development, which could improve electricity supply, benefiting manufacturers, mines, agriculture and small businesses, and boosting manufacturing and industrialisation.  

In Xiong’an, the Vice-President visited China Huaneng and a smart-energy facility.

He linked the experience to Zimbabwe’s need for reliable and competitively priced electricity to support industrialisation. Zimbabwe is seeking to expand its energy mix through hydro, thermal, solar and other sources.

China has both the technologies and finances to help Zimbabwe expand its energy mix to boost energy production and supply.

The Vice-President’s visit could also unlock technology sharing and transfer of skills.

Chiwenga’s delegation visited science, technology, medical and smart-city facilities and expressed interest in acquiring Chinese expertise.

China’s experience demonstrates how investment in technological capacity, research and development, and technical skills can support industrial upgrading. For Zimbabwe, partnerships that include training, research cooperation and technology transfer could help build domestic capabilities.

Close historical China-Zimbabwe ties provide an existing platform from which Zimbabwe can attract more investment.

China has been Zimbabwe’s largest source of foreign direct investment for several years, with Chinese businesses active in mining, agriculture, infrastructure, energy and manufacturing. Bilateral trade reached approximately US$4,4 billion in 2025.

This means that Zimbabwe does not have to establish an entirely new economic relationship; it can potentially deepen existing partnerships while attempting to secure greater local economic benefits.

While China’s economic model cannot simply be transplanted into Zimbabwe, it provides important benefits, lessons and clues about what steps could potentially be taken to transform and modernise the Zimbabwean economy.

Zimbabwe may have to adapt institutions and policies based on its historical conditions while improving fiscal and financial capacity, as well as the business environment.

A 2025 Zimbabwe-China business roundtable highlighted the importance of regulatory reform, transparency, investor confidence and a predictable investment environment in attracting and retaining investment.  

The Vice-President’s visit to China provided an important learning curve, while consolidating close bilateral ties to unlock and strengthen the transformation agenda at home.

Gideon H Chitanga, PhD. is a Political and International Relations Analyst.