China welcomes 'old friend' Robert Mugabe with a 21-gun salute

[webfact]

China's Xi hails Mugabe as renowned leader

Beijing - China's president Xi Jinping on Monday hailed Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe - a pariah in the West - as a renowned African liberation leader and an "old friend" of the Chinese people.

The former guerrilla turned Africa's longest-ruling leader, now 90, was on his 13th trip to China, seeking more Chinese investment in his nation's stagnant economy.

"The traditional friendship between China and Zimbabwe was forged in the glorious years when we stood shoulder to shoulder against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony," Xi told Mugabe - who is subject to sanctions by the US and European Union - at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

"The Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China and who have come through thick and thin with us."

The comments by the leader of the world's second-largest economy were unusually effusive compared to the usual Chinese diplomatic formality. He also called the Zimbabwean president a "renowned leader of the African national liberation movement" and "an old friend of the Chinese people whom we respect very much".

Full military honours

Mugabe said he felt "very much at home", thanking Xi for the invitation which reminded him of the past and "brings our past to the present".

Zimbabwe's relations with China and the Chinese Communist Party date back to the liberation struggle of the 1970s, when Beijing provided arms and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan greeted Mugabe and his wife Grace - dressed in a vivid yellow and brown African-style outfit - with full military honours, with a band playing the two countries' national anthems as a 21-gun salute was fired and the two presidents inspected a military honour guard.

Full story: http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/Chinas-Xi-hails-Mugabe-as-renowned-leader-20140825-2

-- news24 2014-08-26

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

"The Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China and who have come through thick and thin with us."

Translated:

We sleep even with the devil himself if we can make a dollar out of it.

[canopus1969]

And there was me thinking Xi Jinping had half a brain

[bendejo]

Judging a person (or nation) by their friends...

There are a lot of people in his home country who wished those guns were pointed at his chest.

[car720]

It's just good business.

[PETERTHEEATER]

...........as a 21-gun salute was fired.

And every round missed..........

[klauskunkel]

It's not a party with the moon face from North Korea missing.

[sanuk711]

Mugabe-- Someone told me that he originaly came from Yorkshire, immigrated then just spelt his name backward...... e-ba- Gum............yes its time for my medication & bed................

[timmyp]

This is how China thanks leaders who allow their countries to become economic colonies (along with the opportunity to trade natural resources for lots of weapons).

[kamahele]

Seeking money for the economy he ruined...

[doggie888888]

"The Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China and who have come through thick and thin with us."

Translated:

We sleep even with the devil himself if we can make a dollar out of it.

Thank you for the translation. You do realise even the Americans and Europeans would sleep with the devil when it suits, albeit with a lot more subterfuge (hypocrisy?) than the Chinese.

[yanyk]

Robert Mugabe and Muamar Al Qaddafi represent the two African leaders who refused to be threatened by the west...

[transam]

Robert Mugabe and Muamar Al Qaddafi represent the two African leaders who refused to be threatened by the west...

, joker eh..............

[Local Drunk]

Sadly the guns were pointed in the wrong direction...

[Local Drunk]

Robert Mugabe and Muamar Al Qaddafi represent the two African leaders who refused to be threatened by the west...

Is it sill kinda hip to say "Face Palm"?

[Jasun]

My enemy's enemy is a friend of mine...

[Local Drunk]

My enemy's enemy is a friend of mine...

Your friend of a friend has also completely destroyed what was once a very prosperous nation: Rhodesia.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Local Drunk

[Frank James]

Birds of a feather, flocking together.

[RickBradford]

Millions of Zimbabweans would queue for hours to give Mugabe a 21-gun salute -- from extremely close range.

[Frank James]

Cecil Rhodes is turning in his grave.

[NeilSA1]

Robert Mugabe and Muamar Al Qaddafi represent the two African leaders who refused to be threatened by the west...

......... and a lot of good its done them.

Years ago people said,'come to Rhodesia and see the Zimbabwe Ruins' , now they say 'come to Zimbabwe and see the Rhodesian Ruins'

[Publicus]

People who believe a rising CCP-PRC is good for global stability, peace, geostrategic balance need to look closely at these two peas in a pod and to think of the kind of dictators the Boyz in Beijing go in to ecstasy about.

Many countries of sub-Saharan Africa are already tributary states of the CCP Boyz in Beijing, Zimbabwe chief among them and continually working with the CCP Boyz to increase the number of tributaries. The EU as a tributary will be great but the United States would have to be gone from the face of the earth as the prerequisite.

The Boyz oppose democracy and market economics because democracy would remove the CCP from its control over state owned and controlled economics and finance and because Chinese culture is defined ideologically by 5000 years of warlords, emperors and dynasties of emperors and now the new dynasty of the CCP dictators.

[cookee68]

My enemy's enemy is a friend of mine...

That's why he;s your enermy

[daveAustin]

Kind of ironic Xi smacking down 'imperialism' after all that lot are doing in the world today. Anyway, two peas in a pod, perfect for one another. That disgusting primate. I would pay good money to have 10 minutes in a room with the geriatric degenerate. The old adage, only the good die young is spot on here!

[Norvid]

R. Mugabe brain probably looks like his dry face by now, unable to communicate between synapses. .

[laobali]

Don't forget he was wooed by the Shinawats too.

[khounteen]

This monkey, depending on which political persuasion you are, could be seen as a hero or a zealot. Talk to some Zimbabwean and some of them praise him for the courage to stand up to the west and some hated him for destroying the country. Now he has gone to china with his begging bowl after the west told him to f off.

[spidermike007]

"The Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China and who have come through thick and thin with us."

Translated:

We sleep even with the devil himself if we can make a dollar out of it.

Exactly their sentiment. The Chinese government is even more morally bankrupt than the US Govt. They are complete whores. Organ harvesting of their own people, ten years in prison for grandmothers practicing Fulon Gong, and now embracing the pigs of the planet. I do realize my own government was close friends with Saddam, Gaddafi, and Noriega, as long as it benefitted them. And did I mention the drug billionaire, puppet president Karzai? But, China is sinking to ever new depths. They just do not care. Kim Jung IL, and now Mugabe? Who next?

[laobali]

"The Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget those good friends and good brothers who have shown mutual understanding and support vis-a-vis China and who have come through thick and thin with us."

Translated:

We sleep even with the devil himself if we can make a dollar out of it.

Exactly their sentiment. The Chinese government is even more morally bankrupt than the US Govt. They are complete whores. Organ harvesting of their own people, ten years in prison for grandmothers practicing Fulon Gong, and now embracing the pigs of the planet. I do realize my own government was close friends with Saddam, Gaddafi, and Noriega, as long as it benefitted them. And did I mention the drug billionaire, puppet president Karzai? But, China is sinking to ever new depths. They just do not care. Kim Jung IL, and now Mugabe? Who next?

They have oil and mineral rights in most of Africa already. That's what it's all about.

[Deacon Bell]

Surprised they didn't eat him.