China pays tribute to Zambian independence leader Kenneth Kaunda as ‘old friend of the Chinese people’
- Beijing sends respects to African liberation leader who made way for multiparty democracy in 1991
- China helped Kuanda bypass white-minority regime in Rhodesia by building rail link to Tanzania – a pivotal moment in the country’s relations with Africa
China has paid tribute to Zambia’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda as a liberation hero and “old friend of the Chinese people”.
Kaunda was highly regarded in China because of his role as one of the African leaders who helped China regain its seat at the United Nations from Taiwan.
His rule also marked a pivotal moment in China’s relationship with the continent when Beijing stepped in to fund a rail link to the coast after the white-minority regime in Rhodesia cut the country’s access to the coast.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday that Kaunda was “internationally renowned and the older generation of leader, politician and social activist of African independence movements”.
“Mr Kaunda had been committed to the friendship of the two countries, and set forth the innovative expression of ‘all-weather friendship’, an accurate and expressive description of China-Zambia relations,” Zhao said.