Jane Fields: Mugabe celebrates 86th birthday, but how much longer can the party go on?

THE Chinese embassy in Harare hosted a birthday party for president Robert Mugabe this week. It was, Zimbabweans were told, the first time His Excellency had visited a foreign embassy in the capital in 30 years: proof – so it seemed – that relations between Zimbabwe and her giant "all-weather friend" from Asia were as strong as ever.

Mr Mugabe, who turned 86 on 21 February, and China's youthful-looking envoy Xin Shunkang were shown smiling at the party on the front page of the official Herald newspaper.

"Ours has grown into a really solid relationship," Mr Mugabe gushed. "We treasure this friendship. It's not really the relations that count, but the love, alliance and understanding."

Who exactly was he trying to convince?

Reports from a recent investment summit in Harare suggest that China's love, alliance and understanding of Zimbabwe may be wearing more than a little thin.

Deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara told executives on the sidelines of the international tourism investment summit that China had "stopped working with Zimbabwe", according to a report in this week's Zimbabwean newspaper.

Chinese president Hu Jintao and his officials apparently informed a Zimbabwean delegation at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, that Zimbabwe had to clear its massive loan arrears with Beijing before the cash-strapped southern African country could expect a single yuan more in aid.

"China has stopped working with us. The Chinese, though comrades, are not giving us any money until we clear our debts," Mr Mutambara was quoted as saying. That's not the kind of birthday message that Mr Mugabe wanted to hear at all.

China poured millions into Zimbabwe during the turbulent past decade. Quite how many is a closely guarded Zanu-PF secret: when central bank chief Gideon Gono said last November that China's Sonangol company had poured "huge" sums into platinum refining and housing development (reportedly up to 4 billion), the investment authorities – in the hands of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change party – had no knowledge of such deals.

In addition, there have been loans to the state-owned Zesa power company and Ziscosteel, as well as other agreements in the energy, tourism and mining sectors.

What was Beijing getting out of all this? Preferential treatment for ivory dealers operating in the bush? Or cut-price minerals and cheap chunks of parastatals, as the critics said?

Whatever it was, it appears it wasn't enough. Zimbabwe under Mr Mugabe is notoriously bad at repaying its debts or honouring its financial obligations. Just ask the International Monetary Fund.

Now Beijing wants to be considered purely as a "business partner", according to Mr Mutambara. Zimbabwe hurriedly repaid 2.5 million of the Ziscosteel debt earlier this month.

China's cooling-off – if that's what it is – is being swept firmly under the red carpet. The nation was whipped into birthday frenzy this week. Mr Mugabe may have vowed on state television to celebrate his 86th with nothing more than "a glass of water", but that's not a promise he's managed to keep.

Apart from the Chinese party, there were other parties organised by Zanu-PF and the president's personal staff. On Tuesday, the president was shown in the Herald slicing yellow birthday cake with… his sister-in-law Rose. (Where, pray, was his glamorous shopaholic wife Grace?)

Tucked inside the Herald have been the real Zimbabwe headlines, the grim story of years of disastrous rule that the Mr Mugabe's MDC partners appear powerless to repair: "Willowvale (motor industries] faces collapse", "Shabanie (mine] on verge of collapse" and "RioZim suffers $16m loss".

Local activists' group Kubatana ran an SMS poll this week, asking subscribers what they'd like as a birthday present from the Big Man. His resignation, most of them replied.

The biggest birthday party will be held today in the second city of Bulawayo, where civil servants have joined a strike over pay. Up to 15,000 youths will be bused in for the bash, hungry – no doubt – for a slab of steak from one of the 300 cows requisitioned to be slaughtered for the event.

The president says the party must go on. But for how much longer?