China donates books to Zimbabwe's ruling party

HARARE -- China on Friday donated over 1,000 books to Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party at its headquarters in the country's capital Harare.

The donation was handed over by Zhou Ding, the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, to Munyaradzi Machacha, the principal of the Chitepo School of Ideology, ZANU-PF's ideology school.

The donation included books on Chinese history, Chinese financial reforms and China's foreign affairs, among others, as well as computers and printers.

Some of the books will be kept in the library of the recently completed ideology school in Harare.

"We will be opening our school soon, and these will grace our library, where students can come and borrow and read," Machacha told Xinhua after the handover ceremony.

"It will allow our students to read widely and to have a broader global view of events that will be taking place around them," he said.

Speaking after the ceremony, Zhou expressed the hope that the donation can "benefit ZANU-PF and help further strengthen the bonds between our two parties."

"Our relations include not only economic cooperation but also party-to-party exchanges. The Communist Party of China (CPC) and ZANU-PF have a long history of cooperation," Zhou said.

China has played a critical role in Zimbabwe's development since pre-independence up to the current economic reconstruction of the country, said Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, ZANU-PF's secretary for external relations.

Zimbabwe seeks to learn from the successes of China, which has built a prosperous society and lifted hundreds of millions from poverty under the leadership of the CPC, he added.