Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu has hit back at reports suggesting China is planning to take over his country’s national assets over debt.
Lungu insisted that no amount of “propaganda” will end the country’s relationship with the East Asian country.
Zambia is highly indebted, with the government putting its current external debt at $9bn (£6.8bn) and analysts saying its debt alone to China is more than $5bn.
This has prompted speculation in the media that could seize some of Zambia’s national assets if it defaulted on loan repayments.
It was even report that the country’s state broadcaster, ZNBC, was Chinese-controlled while discussions were under way for a Chinese company to take over the state-owned power company, Zesco.
Mr Lungu however dismissed these suggestions when he opened parliament on over the weekend, saying Zambia shared the same relationship with China as it did with “Europe, America, India” and African nations.
He said, “Our friendship with China is mutual and no amount of reckless propaganda will deter us from entrenching this relationship for the common good of our people.”
He also dismissed reports that Zambia risked losing some of its assets:
“Ignore the misleading headlines that seek to malign our relationship with China by mischaracterising our economic cooperation to mean colonialism. China does not have that record, neither does it seek a horse-and-jockey relationship with Zambia.
“We are fully conscious as a nation and we are alive to the fact that we need to uplift the lives of our people. I need to emphasis that all forms of bilateral co-operation with China are and will always be informed by this noble focus.”