China said on Wednesday that it respects Robert Mugabe’s decision to resign as Zimbabwe’s president.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing that China was happy to see Zimbabwe peacefully and appropriately resolve the issue via talks, and that its policy toward the country would not change.
“China respects Mr Mugabe’s decision to resign. He remains a good friend of the Chinese people,” Lu said, adding that Mugabe had made “historic contribution to Zimbabwe’s independence and liberation”.
China has close ties with Zimbabwe and traditionally also with Mugabe himself.
Zimbabwe’s army seized power after Mugabe sacked his former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was a favorite to succeed him.
Mugabe’s move was an apparent bid to smooth a path to the presidency for his 54-year-old wife Grace Mugabe.
Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in within days and serve the remainder of Mugabe’s term until the next election, which must be held by September 2018.
Asked about a U.S. call for free elections in Zimbabwe, Lu said China believed it could handle its own affairs and China hoped other countries would not interfere, Reuters reports.
China and Zimbabwe have a close diplomatic and economic relationship, and China had stood with Mugabe’s government in the face of Western economic sanctions, investing in auto, diamond, tobacco and power-station projects.
In August, Zimbabwe said a Chinese company planned to invest up to $2 billion to revive operations at Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), which ceased production in 2008 at the height of an economic meltdown.
