People's Republic of China-Mozambique relations

China-Mozambique relations

China	Mozambique

China–Mozambique relations date back to the 1960s, when China began to support the struggle of Mozambique's Marxist-oriented FRELIMO party against Portuguese colonialism. Diplomatic relations were formally established on 25 June 1975, soon after Mozambique gained independence from Portugal. In November 2006, Mozambique became the thirteenth African country to be added to China's official list of tourism destinations.

Hu Jintao, president of the People's Republic of China, made an official visit to Mozambique in February 2007, during which he and Armando Guebuza, the president of Mozambique, pledged further cooperation in the areas of economy, technology, agriculture, education and sports.Shanghai and Maputo share a sister city relationship.

From 1992 to 2003, 22 Mozambicans went to China as international students. Estimates for the number of Chinese nationals residing in Mozambique as of 2007^[update] ranged from 1,500 to 12,000.

China's pattern of trade with Mozambique differs from that with their major trading partners on the African continent, such as Angola, Nigeria, and Sudan. China mainly imports agricultural and fisheries products from Mozambique, but few raw materials, while exporting manufactured goods and machinery. Between 2004 and 2006, bilateral trade tripled in value from US$70 million to US$210 million, making China one of Mozambique's three largest trading partners, behind South Africa and Portugal. China has also become a major buyer of Mozambican timber; despite local regulations forbidding the export of unprocessed logs, which aim to force foreign countries hoping to gain access to Mozambican resources to invest in setting up processing facilities in the country, many logs are exported illegally. Chinese businessmen are not typically involved in the actual practise of logging; instead, it is performed mainly by locals, who then bring the logs to buyers in port cities. China has also become an increasingly important player in Mozambique's construction industry; over one-third of Mozambique's new road construction is now carried out by Chinese contractors. Contractors from other countries, who have been losing out on business due to their higher costs, complain that the Chinese contractors make no effort to transfer skills or technology to locals, and do not make use of local or regional labour subcontractors, instead preferring to import and manage their own workers. However, Chinese-run construction sites are better-organised and have a lower rate of pilferage. In the first 10 months of 2012, the value of trade was US$1.1 billion, with Mozambique being the 23rd largest trading partner of China.

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