Overview
- Li Qiang began a two-day stop in Lusaka, with a meeting set for Thursday with President Hakainde Hichilema to sign documents launching the Tazara upgrade.
- The $1.4 billion plan revives the 1,860-kilometer line to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, with CCECC holding the refurbishment concession agreed in September.
- China’s push in Zambia counters the U.S./EU-backed Lobito Corridor, setting up competing east–west pathways to move copper and other critical minerals.
- Beijing is Zambia’s largest official creditor at about $5.7 billion, following a restructuring that put the country’s $13.4 billion debt on a more sustainable path.
- The trip unfolds as lawsuits over a February acid spill into the Kafue River target Chinese-run mining subsidiaries, with nearly 200 farmers seeking compensation.