China signed a $1.4 billion agreement with Zambia and Tanzania this Thursday to modernise the TAZARA railway linking landlocked Zambia to the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n
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The railway, financed by China in the 1970s to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports through Tanzania, remains a critical trade route and is widely seen as countering the United States (US) and European Union-backed Lobito Corridor, a route from Angola through Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The agreement was signed during a visit to Zambia by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the first such visit in 28 years, at a time when Africa’s second largest copper producer is emerging from a financial crisis.<\/p>\n
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“We want to work with Zambia to advance the cause of modernisation,” Li said during talks with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema ahead of the signing.<\/p>\n
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A representative of China Railway Corporation said the works on the 1 860 km (1 155 miles) railway line will include the rehabilitation of stations, the track, tunnels, bridges and construction of other infrastructure along the corridor.<\/p>\n
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The revamp is expected to raise freight volumes on the line to 2.4 million tons annually from 100 000 tons currently.<\/p>\n
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Li’s visit is part of a push to deepen China’s presence in the copper-rich country as Europe and the US vie to be alternative benefactors now that Zambia’s $13.4 billion debt is on a more sustainable repayment plan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hichilema expressed gratitude for China’s role in Zambia’s debt restructuring process. China is Zambia’s largest official creditor, owed $5.7 billion and keen to highlight countries that are model members of President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On Monday, Zambia issued a licence to a joint venture with China’s Fujian Xiang Xin Corporation to build a $1.1 billion crude oil refinery and energy complex, underscoring China’s growing economic footprint in the country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chinese companies have invested about $6 billion in Zambia over the last two decades, data from the American Enterprise Institute shows, almost all in the metals sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15737,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-15736","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"China signed a $1.4 billion agreement with Zambia and Tanzania this Thursday","published_date":"2025-11-20 18:57:49","news_description":"China signed a $1.4 billion agreement with Zambia and Tanzania this Thursday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19848,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15736\/revisions\/19848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}