On the afternoon of November 15, 2023, H.E. Mr. Zhao Weiping, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Namibia, hosted the second press conference with representatives from 7 media houses of Namibia at the Chinese Embassy. The transcript of the press conference is as follows.

Amb. Zhao: I want to express my warm welcome to all our media friends to the Chinese Embassy. I see some familiar faces. It’s good to have old friends with us and also so many new friends. The last meeting was in June. Time really flies. I’ve been here for 9 months already. As we are approaching the end of the year, I think it’s time for us to have another get-together because I know December will be a very special month. I was told that for the first half of the month, people will be very busy wrapping up everything of their work, but for the second half, it’s time for people to enjoy holidays. So I think it may be appropriate for us to get together now and  this will be the last press meeting hosted by the Embassy of this year and I hope it will become a regular event, which will at least be held twice a year, because it is very important for us to engage with the media to provide you with information, such as what we’re doing, what we’re thinking and what we’re planning. The media indeed plays a very important role in domestic and international affairs. That’s the background for our press meeting.

Today, I mainly want to brief you of the progress of China-Namibia relations this year and also share with you my expectations of our bilateral relations for the year of 2024. And after my opening remarks, I will be happy to answer any question you may have.

Talking about bilateral relationship this year, the biggest highlight is the successful bilateral meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Hage G. Geingob back in August on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders after 5 years since their last meeting in 2018 in Beijing. The two Presidents have reached important consensus on pushing forward China-Namibia Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership. 

On the same day, President Geingob also attended the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue, which was hosted by President Xi and the South African President. At that dialogue, President Xi announced China’s Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization, China’s Plan for Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization and also China’s Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development. In addition to the bilateral meeting I mentioned, our two Presidents have also maintained close contact with each other by exchanging letters. The close engagement between our two presidents has provided strategic guidance for the development of China-Namibia relations.

The second important development of the bilateral relations this year is the picking up of the exchanges of official visits between our two countries. You know for the past 3 years, bilateral visits have virtually stopped because of the pandemic. So this year, we have witnessed the resumption of the bilateral official visits and the major visits from China included the one headed by Mr. Zhang Jianhua, Administrator of the National Energy Administration and the one headed by Mr. Tang Wenhong, Vice Chairman of China International Development Cooperation Agency. Both delegations had the honor to pay a courtesy call upon President Geingob, and held talks with relevant Namibian government Ministries. Vice Chairman Tang Wenhong also paid a courtesy call on the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister.

The third achievement of the bilateral relations is the further strengthening of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. According to the statistics by the Chinese side, from January to September this year, China-Namibia bilateral trade volume reached 1 billion US dollars, an increase of 29% over the same period of last year. Although no major investment projects are announced this year, an increasing number of Chinese companies are showing their interests in investment opportunities in Namibia. There was almost no Chinese tourists during the past 3 years because of the pandemic, but now we see the Chinese tourists are coming back. According to the local Chinese travel agencies, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Namibia this year is expected to reach about 8000, which is almost half of the number in peak times before the pandemic.

The ongoing Chinese Government grant projects are progressing smoothly, including the 4 rural school projects in the north, which will be completed very soon, the new airport road 2B section, and the satellite data ground receiving station. And we are also discussing with the Namibian side on implementing some new development assistance projects.

As a new Ambassador, I have been working hard to familiarize myself with the people and places of Namibia. I have visited almost all the 14 regions and I made a lot of friends in the past 9 months. When the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister received me for the first time in her office back in February, she reminded me that I am accredited to Namibia, not to Windhoek, so I should not always stay in Windhoek. I think I have followed her good advice very well. 

Almost every day, I am thinking what I can do as Ambassador to the further development of our bilateral relations and to the friendship between our two peoples. Based on my understanding of our two countries and the nature of our bilateral relations, I have set the cooperation in the areas of agriculture, education infrastructure and talent development as the priorities of my work in the time ahead.

Agriculture is critically important for Namibia either for ensuring food security or solving the unemployment problem. I am very sensitive to all the issues which might be related to agricultural cooperation between our two countries, and I really want to do something in this regard. Recently, when I learned from the newspaper that Namibia is experiencing big shortage of food, I immediately reported to my Government. I am very happy that the Chinese Government has announced to provide a grant of 10 million Chinese Yuan (approximately N$26 million, subject to exchange fluctuations) for emergency food aid to Namibia. Currently, the Embassy is discussing with the Namibian Government on the implementation of the aid.

Education is also very important for Namibia. I know how big the challenge Namibia faces in improving its education infrastructure through my visits to various regions. I was told that Namibia needs to build more than 4000 classrooms to meet the actual needs. And I also understand the need for Namibia to meet the challenges of high-quality talent development. Some vocational training centers in Namibia have already made proposals for cooperation with their Chinese counterparts. And I will focus my efforts on those important issues. 

Of course, I have been and will continue to work on other areas such as health, business investment and bilateral trade. Indeed there are a lot of things and time really flies, and we should work as hard as possible.

Talking about the bilateral relations next year, first, I hope there will be exchanges of more high-level visits between our two countries. This year we have already received some official delegations, but I think next year it’s quite reasonable to expect more because we have just reopened this year.

Second, as I mentioned that President Xi Jinping put forward China’s initiative and plan for supporting Africa’s industrialization, agricultural modernization and talent development at the China-Africa Leaders Dialogue in South Africa. So I hope both sides will work together to ensure these initiatives and plans will benefit Namibia.

Third, I hope we will forge closer economic cooperation in various fields, not only in the mining sector, but also in renewable energy like green hydrogen and other areas. Of course, through news media reports here, people already know a lot about your cooperation with the European Union in this regard. But actually the Chinese companies are also interested in this project. We should also explore the possibilities for both countries to conduct more projects within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. China also stands ready to expand its import from Namibia by providing Namibian agricultural and aquatic products more access to the Chinese market.  And of course, I also hope China and Namibia will strengthen cooperation on international and regional issues. 

I will stop here with my opening remarks and I really welcome questions from our media friends here. Thank you.

Q:Good afternoon, Your Excellency and the rest of the staff and the media. My name is Jemima. I’m from the Namibian Sun Newspaper. You just said that you hope that Namibia and China would collaborate more when it comes to the Belt and Road Initiative. I was one of the attendants at the Belt and Road Forum last month. And my observation was that Africa is basically an afterthought. People have a conversation about that, no, not even an afterthought,  it's just not mentioned. And I was wondering, what exactly, is it Africa not important enough? Is it (because ) countries like Namibia not big enough? Is it (because) the economies are too small for China to take them so seriously, compared to obviously leading countries, economies, like Russia? So what is holding China back from playing the same kind of priority to African countries? There were a number of journalists from around the world, and the feelings from the African journalists was that they only see China coming to the continent and taking resources. And even the projects that you're talking about, the airport road, these are projects that government is given a loan by the Chinese government, and then the Chinese company, government company get these contracts. So essentially, it's not doing Africa any favors. So can you comment on that? Also there's also a concern from the Chinese themselves that Africans like Zambia is calling these Belt and Road Projects “the sushi project”. But the issue in Namibia isn’t, I don't know if you’re following, there's been the Chinese company that has gotten a large number of government projects. This company has not paid a single dime for tax. So you have companies like this affiliated to the government and you and the Embassy represent the government. If these companies are affiliated to the government, what stopped you and the Embassy to intervene when issues like this come to light? Thank you.

A: I think you are making a good speech. A lot of questions you mentioned. I will try my best to answer all of them. If I forget to answer any of them, you may ask the question again. So you attended the forum recently in Beijing. I don't know why you have formed such an impression that Africa is ignored in the Belt and Road Initiative. I think it really surprised me a lot, because Africa has always been a very important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. And actually, China and Africa have already conducted a lot of joint projects under the framework of this initiative. We also established some financial institutions to support the implementation of this initiative. Actually, a lot of those Belt and Road projects in Africa have got the support of those financial institutions. We have established the China-Africa Development Fund as well as the China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation. So there’re actually already a lot of projects that have benefited from this initiative. Just take an example of Husab mines. Husab mine project is our single largest investment project in Africa with an investment amount of 5.1 billion US dollars. Part of the investment was also financed by one of the financial institutions I mentioned. We all know Husab mine here, but not all the people know that actually it enjoyed the benefits of the Belt and Road. And also in other African countries, some very big projects, like the railway projects or harbor projects, also enjoy such funding support. That's the first point I want to mention. 

The Belt and Road Forum held in October in Beijing was a global event. Africa is part of that event. If I remember correctly, in the Chinese leader’s speech, there was also reference to Africa. Several heads of African countries also attended that forum and a lot of Ministers also attended. So I think we have never ignored Africa, and actually, Africa is one of the very important participants. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative and the initiative started in the neighboring regions of China, and then it spread globally to include Africa and other regions. I think 2018, that's the year very important in the development of China-Africa Belt and Road cooperation. Because in that year, if I remember correctly, about 30 African countries officially joined that initiative, including Namibia. So, as I said, the initiative started in the neighboring regions of China, so maybe some countries in neighboring regions of China have more projects. It’s something not difficult to understand. But we have never ignored Africa. Also, the pandemic lasting 3 years from 2020 to 2022 has posed a big problem for us to move faster in terms of the Belt and Road Initiative. Without the pandemic, we would have seen more projects, but because of the pandemic, a lot of things, you have to stop, I think that's also a factor we have to take into consideration.

You also mentioned the Chinese company. The Chinese company is an old topic, but it seems to be a topic which will never disappear. The point you made is that China took away a lot of resources from Africa, but Africa didn't enjoy too much benefit, if I understand your point correctly. I think maybe we should look at the bigger picture. I think it's true that in our economic cooperation between China and Africa, the natural resources account for an important part of our economic cooperation and bilateral trade. For international economic cooperation and trade, it's always something of complementarity -- what we have, we exchange for what you have. I think, on one hand, it's not difficult to understand why the structure of our bilateral investment and trade is like this. But I think natural resources are not the whole story of our bilateral economic cooperation, I assure you. Our bilateral economic cooperation and trade is much more than just mineral resources. 

But even for the cooperation in the mineral resources, in the mining sector, we cannot say that it only benefits China. You say China takes away the biggest bulk of the benefits and very little left for African countries, I think that  may not fit into the whole truth. Just take the Husab and Rossing uranium mines as examples. I think you all know very well that the Rossing mine once almost reached the point of closure, because the original owner, an Australian company wanted to close that mine, as the nuclear power plant accident in Japan caused the uranium price to drop sharply. That mine had already in operation for a very long time, one of the oldest mines in the world. They wanted to close it. But if they did, it means all the jobs will be gone. I don't have the accurate statistics, but they employed at least 1,000 people. So if they close it, then those 1,000 people will lose their jobs. At that time, the Chinese company came to take it over. Actually, at that time, it's very risky because they don't know whether the price of uranium will rise again. Of course, most uranium produced there was exported to China. It seems that we have taken the resource, but it's not a free taking-away. 

So that's one of the stories. Actually, in Namibia, we only have those two uranium mines in your mining sector. People may think that there are a lot of Chinese companies in the mining sector here, but actually, only these two. There are also a few small companies. Husab Uranium and Rossing Uranium have contributed to 7% of your GDP and directly created about 3,000 jobs. And those jobs are very good salary jobs, very good jobs, and indirectly altogether created about 6,000 jobs. And they also pay taxes. Husab Uranium alone, according to some statistic,  which I think I used in our last press meeting, paid tax of at least N$200 million. You said some companies don’t pay tax, I can't comment on specific cases, because the companies do not always tell the same story as the tax administration tells. But actually, we are following all of those things very closely. Once we became aware of such report or heard of such things, we always pay our attention. 

In addition, we have strengthened our dialogue with the Chinese community as well as Chinese companies in Namibia. The position of the Chinese Government is very clear, that is, we ask our citizens or enterprises overseas to abide by the local laws and regulations, respect the culture, and live in harmony with the general public. If any company or any citizen break your laws and regulations, they should be held accountable and there’s no doubt about that. Of course, it's not easy, or not possible for the Embassy to ensure every Chinese company or every Chinese citizen here abide by your laws and regulations. There are actually some people who want to play with the law, although they are well aware of the consequences. We will continue to do our best to have more dialogues with the companies and citizens. It's just like if we ask the Embassy of other countries in China to ensure that their companies or their citizens in China never break the law, that's something not very possible. But I can say we are working very hard to ensure that the Chinese companies and citizens all abide by the laws. I can tell you that the majority of Chinese companies and Chinese nationals here respect the laws and regulations. We should not deny the whole Chinese community because of individual cases. Thank you.

Q: Thank you very much. My name is Peter Dent, working in Namibia Broadcasting Corporation. First of all, congratulations to China in reaching the $1 billion mark in terms of trade between the two countries. Despite the covid pandemic, I think there is an achievement. You spoke about the need to elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership established by Namibia and China in 2018. You spoke also about areas of agriculture, education and so on. But are there specific projects that we can look forward to in 2024 that the Embassy is going to spearhead in those areas. Secondly, the cooperation in space, I think there's an observation mission in Swakopmund. Are there any areas that you are looking at in terms of that specific cooperation to  improve that? I have two more questions that are more directly related to China and international relations. Huawei, as we have seen, is not doing so well. I think Samsung and other electronic devices have taken over. I think at one point Huawei was number one, I think before the pandemic, if I'm correct now. It has dropped out, I think, to number 4 or 5. What are the reasons? And what is China doing to improve on this position? Lastly, also, the war between Israel and Hamas, and they need to have a ceasefire so that reconstruction can begin. What is China's view on this matter? Thank you, Sir. Sorry,  just the last question, you spoke about the trend for increasing bilateral visits. Are we likely to see President Xi also coming to Namibia?

A:Thank you.What specific projects we are going to witness next year? I feel it difficult to answer that. Because some projects will only be announced after relevant companies have reached agreement or something like that. But I do want to say that, as I mentioned, Chinese companies are also very much interested in the area of renewable energy, and some Chinese companies have also shown real interest in participating in the green hydrogen project. That's for the first question. The second question is whether there is any cooperation related with space technology. As I mentioned, we are currently constructing a satellite data receiving ground station here in Windhoek. Currently it’s the phase-one project, and we are also interested in having phase two. And the purpose of that project is to provide our Namibian friends access to satellite data, which can be used for a lot of purposes, like the survey of the land. But for the space technology, I am not aware of an direct cooperation in the space technology. But we did send some of your seeds into the universe for research. So maybe in future we can continue to explore more cooperation in that direction. 

Are you talking about Huawei? I think it's facing more challenges than before. One of the reasons is that the West, led by the United States, made a lot of unwarranted accusation on it. Of course, their real motivation is they are afraid. Huawei has already overtaken the Western companies in some areas, so they want to cause some problems for its further development. These are the biggest difficulties for Huawei. But actually, Huawei itself is a very good company. It's a good leader of innovation, not only in China, but also in the world, in some aspects. But I don't think eventually the West will succeed in its attempt to stop the growth of Huawei. Maybe you have already read reports that Huawei has recently released a new model of cellphone using a kind of very sophisticated chips. And some US officials, even in public, say it's a surprise that Huawei could have developed such an advanced chip. Because the West has almost cut all the scientific links with Huawei. They have put a lot of sanctions on a lot of companies to prevent them from doing business with Huawei.  But still Huawei succeeded in making such kind of advanced chips. They're really surprised a lot. So I still have very strong confidence in Huawei. You mentioned Israel and Hamas. We are of course deeply saddened by the civilian deaths on both sides. And we urge relevant parties to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible. This is our position. As Ambassador, I will always be very excited to have the visits by our top leaders, but I can’t tell when they will come. 

Q: Good evening, Your Excellency, my name is Justicia. I’m from Eagle FM. My first question for you goes to Chinese companies and laws. I just wanted to find out what is your stance in terms of the recent uproar between the Namibian government and Xinfeng investment with regards to the exporting of lithium from Namibia? And in July, Chinese company opened a processing plant in Zimbabwe, are Chinese companies in this country to do the same in Namibia since that China is quite interested in lithium. Early this year, China also expressed interest in terms of energy projects, especially related to the green hydrogen. How far are the talks going towards a point where partnership can finally be reached?

A: For the Xinfeng company, there are quite some reports about it here in Namibia. And as I said, we actually have approached it to check with them what's going on and I cannot comment on the details regarding their relationship with your Government. They said they always abide by the laws, maybe in their engagement with various stakeholders, they should improve their communication. But they tell us that they are not doing those wrong things. I also heard that they are currently constructing a processing facility, and you can check with the company itself when that facility will be put into operation. So I think it is very clear, they will do some processing of the lithium ores before exporting to other countries. 

In terms of green hydrogen, I cannot say now when there will be tangible progress to report to the media. But I want to say that Chinese companies do have real interests in participating in your green hydrogen project. We do believe your Government is very visionary in pushing forward this project. It's clear to all that we have to address the problem of climate change. We have to use clean energy, like wind and solar power. So I think that's the future direction of energy development for the whole world. And also you have such unparalleled solar and wind power in the world. So it’s only logical and practical to develop green hydrogen for Namibia. It's quite a good project. The Chinese companies, it's only natural for them to have real interests in that. But for any business engagement, sometimes it will be a long process, and also because all those cooperation will be of commercial nature, I think we have to wait. And for your green hydrogen projects, as  I mentioned in my previous opening remarks, we do want to have more projects with Namibia under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative. So for your green hydrogen project, I think you need to build and upgrade a lot of infrastructure. And I think the Chinese companies, they have their advantages. Usually when the Chinese companies are constructing infrastructure, they can offer you lower price and also very good quality. And also very important is that Chinese companies usually can finish the same project in a shorter period of time. Thank you.

Q: Good evening all.  Good evening Ambassador. All protocols observed. My name is Uaueza Kanguatjivi, journalist from Confidente. Sorry, I just need to use my notes. So, Ambassador, on the Chinese lithium projects. This question is coming from a report by the newspaper, where it says Chinese lithium companies must promote domestic industries by investing in further infrastructure and adding value to exported raw materials. How long does China plan to add value to exported raw materials? And also, just for interest, Ambassador, when it comes to ICT, information communication technology, does it just go as far as MTC’s cooperation with Huawei in the satellite project, or are there other such programs that China is looking to start in Namibia?

A: For the value adding, I fully understand the Namibian Government and people have such a position. I think that is also important for you to achieve the goal of industrialization. Of course, that will also help your employment situation. So I think it's only fair for any sovereign country to adopt a policy which will serve their interests. Currently, as I’ve said, we don't have many Chinese companies engaged in the mining sector. We have two uranium companies, as I mentioned. We have the Xinfeng company that came here not a long ago. We also have some small companies. They are engaged in marble mining. These are actually all the areas of mining where the Chinese companies are involved. This is not like Western countries, who are engaged with copper, gold, diamond and other mineral resources. Now, the European Union and some other Western countries are also interested in your rare earth and other critical minerals. The Western countries are also engaged in your oil and gas exploration. So compared with those international companies, the Chinese companies only engage in uranium, lithium and marble so far as I know. If you know something more, you can tell me. So I don't think it is a problem for Chinese companies to support your value-adding policy. As I said, Xinfeng Company this year is already building their processing facilities because you have already made a regulation to prohibit exporting lithium raw materials. For the ICT, I think Huawei is the major player in the cooperation between China and Namibia in the area of ICT. Some other Chinese companies are also doing software business with some of your government departments and local companies. Thank you.

Q: Good evening Ambassador, I’m Hertha from Eagle FM. One always says that it is the best to teach people how to fish than to give them the fish. So now looking into the areas of skills transfer, what are the things that China is looking into to transfer to us? Because the fear is that at the end of the day, after 15 or 20 years, we'll find a lot of Chinese companies here manufacturing and so on, but we Namibians are still left with nothing.

A:As I said, President Xi announced China's plan to support Africa's talent development. This is also a key area of our development assistance program. And every year, we provide about 300 opportunities for Namibians to go to China to participate in various training programs, which cover a lot of areas like agriculture, management, education and health. Recently, the Walvis Bay Hospital has just established partnership with a hospital in Zhejiang Province of China. They’ve sent some people there for training. So, every year we provide about 300 training opportunities in a lot of areas. We will continue to do that. Also, I have visited quite some vocational training centers here in Namibia. They have put forward a lot of proposals for cooperation with China. And one idea is to pair up your VTCs and their counterparts in China, and under such pairing arrangement, they can conduct various exchanges and cooperation. For example, they may invite Chinese technicians to Namibia to provide short training programs for your people, and they can also send their learners or staff to China for training. I fully agree with you that it's very important to help people to get the ability to fish. I also have taken it as a key priority myself to do something in the talent development area. Thank you.

Q: Good evening Ambassador, I’m from NBC. Just an additional question on the Chinese company if you don’t mind. Xinfeng investment has been in the media for some time due to various reasons. Could this potentially be affecting the cooperation between Namibia and China, especially for future cooperation in the mining sector?

A:Xinfeng enjoys a lot of media reports as you mentioned. I don't know whether they want to see that or not. But I think, as I said, I really can't comment on the specifics, like what’s the real situation, for the reason I have already explained in the previous points I have made. And I think we should not view this as something which will cause something as you said, because for any cooperation, whether it's in the mining sector or other areas, it has to be mutually beneficial. So we cannot say because of Xinfeng there will be no other cooperation in future. It seems there's no such link because for future cooperation, if that the cooperation is mutually beneficial, if your company or your Government think that it benefits Namibia, and we also think it benefits us, why can’t we have more such mutually beneficial cooperation? I don't think there’s any reasonable link in that. As I said, Xinfeng is actually also building their processing facilities. I think they are complying with your policies by doing that.

Q: Good evening Ambassador, I have a follow-up question, which is with regards to partnership and energy projects. We do have Europe, which is quite interested in Namibia’s energy projects and minerals. We do have partnerships already forging ahead. Is China more concerned that it seems that Europe is already jumping ahead for the cooperation with Namibia? Also cabinet has resolved to add interest to lithium mining and others in Namibia. Is China concerned about that it comes to cooperation with Namibia in these two sectors?

A: Namibia has moved very fast in its cooperation with EU on green hydrogen and the green hydrogen projects have been moving very fast. Green hydrogen is a very important economic project for Namibia. I think these are good news for Namibia. I, as Ambassador, am happy with this good news for Namibia. For economic cooperation, every country and every company should make their own judgment whether it's beneficial for them to participate in such a project. Green hydrogen is a good project and Chinese companies are showing real interest. But I don't think it's like the Olympic Games competition. One doesn’t have to strive for the first or second. You can join it anytime when you think the conditions are right. I do think in due time, Chinese companies will be engaged in the projects. 

Q: Good evening Ambassador and to everyone else in the room. My name is Suzie Shefeni, and I'm from the Namibian Newspaper. You mentioned earlier rare earth metals, and I just like to ask a little bit on that. China has the world's largest deposit of rare earth metals and your country has been a global leader in the market for a long time. And we as the Namibians have also recently made our own substantial, but not as large as those, discoveries in the rare earth sector, particularly with dysprosium and terbium. I know that China-Namibia relationship has long been one of tutelage. I just wanted to know what are the prospects for China to share best practices with Namibia in that sector?

A: Rare earth? It's a question I’ve never thought of. But that doesn't mean we cannot have any cooperation. It is a little bit remote because currently China doesn't have any engagement in the area of rare earth with Namibia. But of course for future cooperation, I think it's very difficult to predict whether there will be cooperation or not. So maybe this is a question I can not answer now. 

Q: Ambassador, maybe I’ll ask the last question. Would you say, the economic opportunities for China or for Chinese nationals, are they decreasing or are they increasing with Namibia?

A: I think during the pandemic a lot of Chinese companies or a lot of Chinese nationals left Namibia, but I was told that a growing number of Chinese companies are thinking of coming back. I think that's a good sign, because that means they have growing confidence in your economic future. As Ambassador, I also hope there will be more Chinese nationals here and even stronger economic cooperation. 

That's all I want to share with you. I want to thank you all, our friends again for coming. I know you’re all very busy, but I do wish such kind of exchange will be useful for both of us to have a deeper understanding for each other. It is always our responsibility to let our media people know what's going on in China and what's going on in our relations. Thank you.