Mnangagwa said the equipment “will go a long way towards consolidating our ongoing quest to modernise the [Zimbabwe Defence Forces]”.

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China is the main financier of Zimbabwe’s infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric dams, airports and roads. Chinese companies have pumped billions of dollars into Zimbabwe’s mining industry, especially in the mining and processing of lithium, an essential mineral used to make rechargeable batteries for electronic devices, electric vehicles and other clean technology.

“Over the last 23 years, the socio-economic growth, development and prosperity of our country has been weighed down by the albatross of the Western-imposed illegal sanctions. Throughout this period, China has been a true and reliable ally. We are forever thankful,” Mnangagwa said at the event.

Zhou Ding, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe described the African country as “a great friend” while handing over the donation. Zhou said the militaries of the two countries would continue to strengthen their cooperation.

Chinese military officers are in Zimbabwe to conduct training on the handling of the equipment.

Beijing sees Zimbabwe as a key strategic ­location in southern Africa to spread its influence, and Harare has consistently supported China in international forums.

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China prepares to give US$140 million parliament building to Zimbabwe

China prepares to give US$140 million parliament building to Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is among the longest-standing African recipients of security force assistance from China.

China provided arms and training to guerillas of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army during the armed struggle that toppled the country’s white minority government in 1980.

Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe following a coup d’etat in 2017, was among those trained by Beijing.

China’s security force assistance has included donations, typically of military equipment and training, aimed at improving the capacity of forces in recipient countries, according to a study last year by Peace Research Institute Oslo.

China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation funded the purchase of a jet trainer worth US$150 million in 2006, while a US$104 million loan from China Exim Bank funded the building of the National Defence College on the outskirts of Harare in 2011, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa Database at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre.

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Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics and international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said Zimbabwe already had the means, including armaments, to silence opposition within the country.

Chan said the Chinese donation mostly consisted of light tactical skirmishing equipment for border wars – not all of it useful for a landlocked country, such as the patrol boats.

“Zimbabwe’s only real water border is Lake Kariba, and its neighbour on the other side, Zambia, poses no military threat,” Chan said. “This is a goodwill gesture from China, probably excess equipment it no longer needs.”

He noted that the motorised water purifiers might have a beneficial non-military use in helping to alleviate a cholera outbreak caused by impure water.

Chipo Dendere, assistant professor of political science in Africana studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, questioned the need for the military aid.

“Zimbabwe is not a country at war and none of our neighbours are at war – with the exception of [the Democratic Republic of the Congo], but we are not helping there,” she said.

“The government is only at war with its people and the opposition,” Dendere said. She said China had gifted the government weapons to use against vulnerable people, and what Zimbabwe needed instead was medical or agriculture equipment.

“That technology, if shared with African countries, could save lives – as would technology for healthcare,” Dendere said.

“These gifts are not free either, as China has also been given a lot of access to Zimbabwe’s natural resources.”

According to Emmanuel Matambo, research director at the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, the transition from Mugabe’s government to that of Mnangagwa was expected to improve Zimbabwe’s fortunes, but it has proved to be “a chimera” and has not diminished Western censure of the country.

As a result, “assistance from China, in any form, is a tonic that Zimbabwe appreciates”, Matambo said.

“The same was the case with the help that China gave to Zimbabwe at the height of Covid-19. Mnangagwa continues to rail against what he argues are Western sanctions that put Zimbabwe in dire straits and under unfair duress.”

He said China’s military donations to Africa had been modest until recently, while Russia had been a more involved player on the continent by providing arms, military instructors and mercenaries.

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But with the increase in maritime crime in countries such as Nigeria, and Russia’s preoccupation with its own security engagements in the war with Ukraine, “China seems to have stepped into the breach”, Matambo said.

In 2022, Beijing supplied a 46-metre (151-foot) patrol boat to Nigeria to aid that country’s effort to stem escalating maritime crime, including piracy, kidnappings and armed robbery at sea, especially in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to a 2022 study by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, China has provided nearly all African countries with millions of dollars’ worth of security force assistance as Beijing seeks to strengthen relations with the continent and protect its economic interests.

It said China had provided military assistance to 47 African countries over the past two decades, with Zimbabwe and Angola the top recipients of military arms and training. Beijing has also aided the African Union Mission in Somalia and the Economic Community of West African States Standby Force.