The Zimbabwe ’Look East’Policy And Its Developments On The Economy2003-2013

Zimbabwe and China relations date back to the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe and strengthened at independence when China stood by Zimbabwe as an old ally. In the turn of the century Zimbabwe found itself in economic problems which needed reliance with the old friends and coincided with the Asian country searching for trade and investment opportunities in Africa. Faced with Western condemnation and rejection and the colonial legacy support seized, Zimbabwe found Chinese foreign policy approaches attractive to its dire need of foreign assistance.As the Zimbabwe crisis continued to grip the nation, the ruling regime dubbed the Look East Policy as a means to strengthen relations. The LEP included a number of countries such as Malaysia, China, India, Iran, Japan and Singapore though relations with China grew apace the rest.This paper argues from a liberal perspective that the Chinese involvement in Zimbabwe helped it through the crisis period helped to rebuild its economy in various sectors through the Look East Policy. Within this basis China and Zimbabwe relations have shown that both parties mutually benefit from the engagement. Critics have however sighted weaknesses to this policy engagement and called for amendments.