By Li Nuer

HARARE, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Former Zimbabwean ambassador to China Chris Mutsvangwa said on Friday relations between Zanu-PF and the Communist Party of China are visionary as they were mooted years back when an economically powerful China was still unimaginable.

"The most important aspect is the visionary aspect of this relationship," Mutsvangwa told Xinhua on the occasion of the 90th founding anniversary of the CPC.

"It was unimaginable that in 1962 to 1964 when Zanu-PF forged this relationship, China could grow through to this day when it is now the second biggest economy in the world."

Led by President Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) brought the country's independence from Britain in 1980, but is now in a coalition government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC following disputed elections in 2008.

Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe is now a major beneficiary of its close and long standing ties with China, a country that has been steadily transformed from a poverty-stricken country into a world giant under the leadership of the CPC.

"I thank the visionary teaching of these two parties that back then they forged this relationship which is now the savior of Zimbabwe in a hot global, economic and political environment," he said.

Mutsvangwa said the emergence of a strong and economically powerful China has provided Africa and Zimbabwe in particular, with the opportunity to widen its development partners.

Zimbabweconducted most of its trade with the West in the past, but its focus has been gradually shifting to China and other Asian countries since 2003 when it launched the "Look East" policy.

The imposition of sanctions by the West and China's win-win approach to economic cooperation and non interference in the internal affairs of another country have helped draw Zimbabwe closer to China.

Bilateral relations and trade have been consistently growing between the two countries complemented by high-level exchanges of visits.

At the end of 2010, trade between the two countries stood at 560 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 90 percent from the previous year.