Planet China : Tenth in a series about how Beijing’s trillion-dollar development plan is reshaping the globe—and the natural world.

HARARE, Zimbabwe—The strange number lighting up Tawanda Majoni’s phone again and again felt like a warning.

Majoni, one of the Zimbabwe’s most respected journalists, soon learned where the calls were coming from: a federal police unit called Law and Order, notorious for abductions, torture and killings.

When unmarked cars rolled through his neighborhood after a relative was pressed for his location, Majoni packed a bag, tossed his cell phone’s SIM card so he couldn’t be tracked and fled the city, haunted by memories of slain colleagues. One was hurled from a moving vehicle in broad daylight. Another was beaten to death.

He knew he couldn’t run forever. Aft

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