Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe’s Engagement with the West vis-à-vis China: What Has Changed?

Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s President following a military coup in 2017. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe and China have had close ties since the colonial period. When Zimbabwe suffered serious economic and political upheaval in the late 1990s and the subsequent imposition of sanctions by the West, Mugabe propounded the country’s ‘Look East’ policy that eventually turned out to be ‘Look China’ policy. Against this backdrop, Mnangagwa came to the fore with the promise to reengage with Zimbabwe’s traditional partners. This paper examines Zimbabwe’s engagement with the West vis-à-vis China in the post-Mugabe era. It further seeks to answer the following questions: How successful is Zimbabwe in its reengagement with the West? Does Mnangagwa still enjoy cordial relations with China? The study is descriptive and analytical in nature, and concludes that considering the negligible engagement with the West, it is safe to say that Zimbabwe continues to heavily rely upon China for its political and economic development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]