From ISN Security Watch:
China’s phenomenal growth and the resultant need for raw materials and new markets has led Beijing to vigorously re-engage with Mozambique, and Africa in general.
China’s relations with Mozambique date back to the 1960s when the PRC supported the Marxist-oriented FRELIMO party in its struggle for independence against Portuguese colonial rule. After independence in 1975 relations remain friendly albeit limited as the FRELIMO government moved closer to the far more powerful Soviet patron. The end of the Cold War saw China lose interest in the East African country as its focus shifted to domestic priorities and its immediate neighborhood.
In the past two years or so, China’s involvement with Mozambique can be described as just short of meteoric. In 2004, two-way trade stood at US$70 million, reaching US$210 million in 2006. [Full Text]
Loro Horta is a research associate and a PHD candidate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
