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The political situation in Zimbabwe is extremely complex, and like the rest of the region, more tribal than political in nature. Asset values in Zimbabwe have been driven down by the economic collapse and political turmoil, so if the Chinese are investing in Zimbabwe, they are doing so at an advantageous time. It makes sense for the Chinese to invest in Zimbabwe, but tremendous risks are involved - hence the armed presence. In any case, Western countries frequently deploy troops to troubled African nations. France played the same game in the Ivory Coast when commercial and political interests were at risk. The difference comes down to the level of investment that China is making in sub-Saharan Africa. Western government squander "development aid" by handing cash directly over to the political elites, or into ill conceived, wasteful NGOs, staffed by incompetent Western elitists. In contrast, the Chinese trade badly needed infrastructure projects for natural resource concessions. The Chinese are rebuilding disused colonial era railways and reopening long abandoned mines, using Chinese produced materials, Chinese engineers and Chinese management. On the face of it, it looks like economic neo-colonialism, but when you consider just how far economic activity has fallen in countries like Zimbabwe, it looks more like opportunistic investment. Britain deserves full responsibility for it's role in creating the Mugabe regime. It was the Thatcher government that oversaw the handover of power to Mugabe, a guerrilla leader, who rather unsurprisingly, started killing former guerrillas from an opposing tribe. Britain funded land redistribution, but then allowed Mugabe to steal the funds provide by the British taxpayers. The only surprise was the long interlude between the Mugabe's first episode of blood letting in the 1980s and the current economic collapse that started with the agricultural confiscations. In the end, Britain has played the role of an impotent provocateur, putting forward criticism of Mugabe for his most recent misdeeds while lacking any capacity or real interest in doing anything constructive.

MSR wrote:

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Chinese troops in Zimbabwe. Openly wearing their uniforms and carrying guns.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/chinese-troops-are-on-the-streets-of-zimbabwean-city-witnesses-say-811796.html

MSR wrote:

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MSR wrote:

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The most important part of the article actually pertains to the maritime issue of the Chinese arms shipment for Zimbabwe that the "300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu)" refuses to unload in Durban. Radical South African trade unionists support Morgan Tsvangirai, while the current ANC leaders worry that a Tsvangirai government in Zimbabwe will result in a ground swell of support for a radical, anti-business economic agenda in South Africa. Mbeki fears the more radical policies of his presumptive successor, Zuma, much in the same way that Mugabe fears Tsvangirai. Most people don't realize the delicate balance of power in the ANC, and how the ambitions of the economic radicals have been thwarted by Mandela and Mbeki.

MSR wrote:

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Mugabe rants and raves about how the British stole his country, then he turns around sells it to the Chinese! I wonder at what price?

Question: if you were a Zimbabwean and home rule was not an option, whom would you rather sell out to?

It's not a matter of "selling out" because no one is buying. Colonialism died with the retreat of European global power. If China has an role in Africa, it will be commercial, not a repetition of the highly conflicted racist philanthropy that Europe exhibited in the late colonial period.