Faced with a collapsing economy, Robert Mugabe is reported to be planning a trip to China to beg for a rescue package. He is set to take a group of ministers with him, sometime in the coming two weeks. The country is teetering on the brink and persistent fuel and bread queues have served to highlight the total break down of the economy.
Political Analyst Dr John Makumbe is sceptical the trip will produce anything tangible. He says China's only interest in Zimbabwe is as a market for their cheap, low quality goods.

Makumbe says business with China was benefiting one side only and Mugabe was trying to put a brave face on it, simply for politics. While Mugabe was looking East, the same countries he is doing business with were looking West. The condemnation Mugabe received from Russian President Vladimer Putin served as a reminder that even the relationship with China could come crashing down if the West, who are doing business with China, exerted sufficient pressure.