Update on the Current State of China-Zambia Relations

The recent visit to Zambia by China’s top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi highlights the outsized importance Lusaka plays in Beijing’s broader Africa strategy. Relations between the countries are among China’s oldest on the continent, dating back to the anti-colonial struggles of the 1960s.

Today, ideology has given way to economics. Zambia is a key supplier of copper and iron ore while China is Lusaka’s largest bilateral creditor.

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by Eric Olander

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