President Robert Mugabe won financial and diplomatic support from China on Tuesday as Zimbabwe came under increased pressure from the United Nations over slum demolitions. Visiting Beijing on Tuesday, Mugabe and Chinese leader Hu Jintao signed a deal on economic and technical cooperation, though neither side said what it contained, according to Reuters. But faced with targeted sanctions from the European Union and Washington and cut off since 1999 from fresh International Monetary Fund and World Bank support, Mugabe's spokesman has said the government is exploring new lines of credit to help deal with some $4.5 billion in foreign debts. Hu praised Mugabe for making "major contributions to the friendly relations between our two countries". "I stand ready to have an in-depth exchange of views with your excellency on our bilateral relations," Hu said at the start of their meeting. Tuesday's deal gave Mugabe a boost as he faces growing isolation from the West and pressure from the United Nations to end the demolition programme and give unfettered humanitarian access to some 700,000 people it estimates have been left without homes, jobs or both. U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF said more than 220,000 children had lost their homes in two months, adding it was "horrified at reports of children dying of easily treatable respiratory infections and of women being forced to give birth in the open."
