BY GEOFFREY YORK, JOHANNESBURG — The Globe and Mail

In an unprecedented move that signals China’s growing global influence, Zimbabwe has announced that it will adopt the Chinese currency as legal tender.

The announcement came after China cancelled $40-million (U.S.) in Zimbabwean debt earlier this week. China is already Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner, and Beijing is often praised by the Zimbabwean government, which has adopted a “Look East” policy after years of sanctions by Western governments.

While the decision to adopt the Chinese yuan as legal tender next month is largely a political message by an anti-Western government, it also illustrates China’s economic power in Africa, where Beijing has rapidly become a major investor and the continent’s biggest trading partner.

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