ElyaDatabase ID Number: M187

Creator: Donghui Li ’21 Business and International Relations

This map captures important Chinese investment from various sectors such as education, power, health, building, and communication in Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2020. The main goal of this map is to present and compare Chinese investment before and after the 2017 coup which removed Robert Mugabe from office. The new President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, proposed a new foreign policy of reconnecting with the West, leading to an argument that Chinese investment will face more challenges and obstructions under the new Mnangagwa’s administration.

The main goal of this map is to examine the correctness of this argument. This map captures important Chinese investment in Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2018. First, the four green circles in this map represent the size of the economy in the regions. Larger circles mean that the region is more prosperous with larger economies. In this map, the largest circle is located in Harare and its surrounding regions. Harare is the capital and also the largest city in Zimbabwe. From this map, it is also clear that most Chinese investments are in Harare. Second, in this map, the black square represents Chinese investment projects before 2017. The red square represents Chinese investment projects after 2017.

From this map, Chinese engagements in Africa did not decrease after the 2017 coup. This finding is consistent with my argument in Section 3 that Chinese investment in Zimbabwe will encounter little change under the new leadership of Mnangagwa. Lastly, this map also indicates several important investment projects in the 2010s: the Kariba South Power Station, the Hwange Thermal Power Plant and its upgrading in 2015, Netone’s 4G and LTE projects (a continuous project in communication: Netone separately received Chinese loans in 2011, 2014, and 2018), and the new Beitbridge-Harare Chirundu Highway project, which is expected to be finished in 2022.

Cite This Work :

Donghui Li, “Chinese Investments in Zimbabwe, 2011-2020.” Scale: 1:20,000,000. In Elya J. Zhang, ed., Mapping History Series. <https://elyadatabase.com/2022/06/12/chinese-investments-in-zimbabwe-2011-2020/> (accessed May 27, 2022).