On the morning of October 29, 2025, Ambassador Zhao Weiping held a press meeting at the Chinese Embassy attended by representatives from 14 media houses of Namibia. The transcript of the press meeting is as follows:

Amb. Zhao:

Good morning, friends from the media. I'm so glad that so many media friends came to attend my second press meeting this year. Today I will brief you on the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, which were just concluded in Beijing, the Global Governance Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the current status of the China-Namibia relationship. After my opening remarks, I will answer your questions.

From October 20 to 23, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. The meeting highly commended the significant achievements China has made over the past five years, and laid out a strategic blueprint for the country's development in the next five years.

Formulating and implementing successive five-year plans in a scientific way has been an important experience of the CPC in governing the country. Since 1953, China has successively formulated and implemented 14 five-year plans. The implementation of the 15th five-year plan will begin in 2026.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's GDP has continued to grow, and this year it is expected to reach 140 trillion yuan, or about 20 trillion US dollars. China has contributed around 30 percent on average to global economic growth annually.

The meeting emphasized that the next five years will be critical for China to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035. We will continue to focus on appropriately handling our own affairs and write yet another chapter of the miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability, opening up new horizons for Chinese modernization.

Our goal is to ensure that China's per capita GDP reaches the level of a moderately developed country by the year 2035, which means our per capita GDP will reach somewhere between 25,000 and 35,000 US dollars, and the total GDP is expected to reach over 30 trillion US dollars, which will provide even greater opportunities for the whole world.

The second topic I want to share is about the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, which was held in Beijing from October 13 to 14. Hon. Jenelly Matundu, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Trade of the Republic of Namibia, represented Namibia at the meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote address, profoundly elaborating on the important role women have played throughout human history. He called for renewing the original aspiration of the Fourth World Conference on Women which was held in Beijing in 1995, and announced new initiatives and measures to support the advancement of women worldwide.

In the next five years, China will donate another 10 million US dollars to UN Women; earmark a quota of 100 million US dollars in China's Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund for implementing development cooperation projects for women and girls in collaboration with international organizations; launch 1,000 "small and beautiful" livelihood programs with Chinese aid that take women and girls as priority beneficiaries; invite 50,000 women to China for exchange and training programs; and establish a Global Center for Women's Capacity Building, which is aimed at conducting capacity building and other development cooperation with relevant countries and international organizations to train more female talent. We believe this important meeting on women has brought the world together in Beijing to further consolidate consensus and inject new momentum into the continued development of the global cause of women.

The third topic is the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), which was put forward by President Xi Jinping at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in Tianjin on September 1. This marks another major initiative proposed by China, following the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.

The GGI has five core concepts, namely, adhering to sovereign equality, abiding by international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, advocating the people-centered approach, and focusing on taking real actions.

By proposing GGI, China does not mean to overturn the existing international order, but to reform and improve the existing international system and international institutions.

By proposing GGI, China does not mean to form bloc confrontation, but to reaffirm its commitment to effective multilateralism.

By proposing GGI, China aims to promote greater democracy in international relations and to safeguard the interests of the Global South.

Here, I wish to note that the 2025 African Union Summit, for the first time, has made its theme "Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations". During the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Ghana and Togo jointly hosted a high-level side event themed "The United Nations 80 Years Later: Accelerating the Reform Agenda and Strengthening the Momentum Towards Justice and Reparations". I would like to point out that China fully understands Africa's demand for the West to make reparations and redress historical injustices related to the slave trade. It is exactly the purpose of the GGI to promote the building of a more just and equitable global governance system.

Now I will touch on China-Namibia relations. This year started with a visit to Namibia by our Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He met with then-President H.E. Dr. Nangolo Mbumba, and also then-Vice President, now President H.E. Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. These were very important meetings. It took place at the beginning of the year so it set the tone for bilateral relations. 

Then in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his special envoy to come to Namibia to attend the inauguration of President Ndaitwah. President Ndaitwah also met with the special envoy, and they had an in-depth discussion on the development of China-Namibia relations. In June, at the invitation of the Chinese side, Hon. Amb. Musavyi, Minister of International Relations and Trade, attended the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. That took place in China in June, and our Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Honorable Minister Ambassador Musavyi. That's also a very important bilateral meeting between our two countries.

Recently, the Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Du Xiaohui led a working group to Namibia. He also had the honor of meeting with Honorable Minister Ambassador Musavyi. These are the major important exchanges of visits and bilateral meetings we had this year. So we continue to enjoy very close political relations. President Xi and President Ndaitwah also had some communication through the exchange of letters.

In terms of our bilateral practical cooperation, I think we have also made some achievements. As you know, our bilateral trade grew based on what we achieved last year. For the first eight months of this year, according to your statistics, our bilateral trade grew more than 25 percent. China continues to be a major investor in Namibia. A growing number of Chinese companies are very much interested in expanding their business investment here in Namibia.

We also have some other contacts or exchanges of visits between our two countries, like the visits by your local governments to China, and also the coming visit to Namibia by our local governments. And now we are planning to have a visit by the media friends and think tank experts to China. We have already scheduled a visit. That will happen late November and early December.

So we have very keen interests in engaging our media community here. We believe it's very important. Not necessarily every time we have some major announcements to make, but just as a regular contact with each other. We want to keep you informed of the latest developments in China and also the latest developments in our bilateral relations. We also wish that more media friends here could have the opportunity to visit China. Almost every year we organize such a China trip for media friends. I think we will do the same again next year. I hope that all our friends present here may have the opportunity to visit China to have a first-hand experience.

I just want to stop here for my opening remarks. Now you are welcome to raise any questions you may have. To be honest, I didn't make too much preparation for what questions you may raise and what answer I should provide. I just want to make it a very informal discussion. I will try to answer any question you may have. If I cannot answer it, maybe my colleagues will help me. And if all of us cannot answer that, we just tell you we don't know. Thank you.

Q: Thank you, Ambassador. My name is Emil Seibeb. I work for the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation. Ambassador, thank you so much for having us. It is very rare for the diplomatic side to get a carte blanche to engage an ambassador like this freely. So it really means a lot. Thank you so much. Ambassador, I have two questions that I would like to ask.

The two countries, Namibia and China, of course, have very strong and growing bilateral ties, economically and politically. I think it's quite strong. I would like to ask Ambassador that while China's investment in Namibia is driven by infrastructure and mining growth, there are critics arguing that much of the value still leaves Namibia. Many of our natural resources still leave Namibia in the form of raw materials. Are there any steps that China is taking to ensure that Namibia moves up the value chain just from exporting raw materials to local manufacturing, rather than just exporting it in its raw form?

And then the second question, Ambassador, is, like I said earlier, China-Namibia relations are quite crucial. But there are also a few critics saying the long-term sovereignty risks, particularly strategic investment in infrastructure projects that China is investing in Namibia. How does China ensure its development cooperation with our country remains fully transparent and mutually beneficial and free from any kind of debt or influence, if there is clear accountability? Thank you so much.

A: Thank you for your first question, I want to assure you that the voice of our African friends, not only Namibia but also all the African countries, for increasing value addition, and developing your own manufacturing sector, has been fully heard by us.

First I want to emphasize we fully understand your aspiration for your industrialization and modernization. Of course, value addition, that's very important for your economy. We support our enterprises in paying special attention to your voices in local beneficiation and also value addition. We fully support that. I think as time goes by, you may see more Chinese companies act in that direction. That's the first point I want to mention.

The second point is about whether a close relationship will compromise your sovereignty. I don't think our Namibian friends need to worry about that. Looking back at our partnership, you may come to realize that actually we emphasize very much on respecting other countries' sovereignty.

Of course, we also care much about our own sovereignty. Although China was not a colony to Western powers in the past, but we did have the experience of being invaded by other countries. So in this sense, we share similar experiences in the past. Because we were both humiliated and invaded by other powers in our history. So we know very much how precious sovereignty, independence, and freedom are.

There will be no reason for us to disrespect the sovereignty of our African friends. Also, I think the Namibian government has done a very good job in safeguarding your sovereignty and maintaining your independence. Over the past 35 years, we can clearly see that.

We know the Namibian people, of course, it's only natural that you are very sensitive to your sovereignty and independence. We fully respect your sovereignty and independence. If there's anything, any specific cases, you think that your sovereignty will be compromised by our action, let us know. We will not let that happen. Thank you.

Q: Hello Ambassador, I'm Frans from Eagle FM. Currently, we have seen that Russia has been slapped with sanctions targeting the two leading oil companies at this moment, Rosneft and Lukoil, and there are rumors that the Chinese companies have stopped trading with Russia for fear of sanctions. Here's the first question. What is the position of China in this regard? Is China now going to reach Russia? Two or three years ago, there was a declaration between China and Russia that they had enriched a friendship of the highest level. So is this friendship going to die down? Are there sanctions, or how is China going to respond?

The second question is based on a sort of strategic friendship between China and Venezuela. And there are rumors that America is seeking a geo-change. So what is China's response to all these geopolitical events that are unfolding?

A: Thank you, Frans. We firmly oppose the practice of imposing sanctions in international relations. So our position has always been consistent and firm in this regard. There is no doubt about that. We oppose any such unilateral sanctions on any country, not only Russia, but also all the countries; that's our principled position. China enjoys very good bilateral relations with Russia. We supported each other on a lot of bilateral issues.

I think these are rumors that some Chinese oil companies have stopped buying Russian oil. I didn't see any official report on that. And I think this is not something new. In the past, some Chinese companies were affected because of such unilateral sanctions on certain countries. I think our practice has also been consistent. Our friends can see what we have done in the past to predict what China will do in the future. Of course, on the Ukraine crisis, we have our own position. We have always been advocating for a peaceful solution to that conflict. Because if that conflict continues, it serves the interest of no country in the world.

We also enjoy a very close partnership with Venezuela. We have publicly expressed our opposition to what the U.S. has done in its relationship with Venezuela lately. We also hope that this problem can be addressed in a peaceful way. Thank you.

Q: Good morning, Ambassador. My name is Envaalde Matheus. I am from One Africa TV. I have heard you were talking about how China is willing to help African countries in their reparations with the West. Just look for a little bit of expansion on that one.

Secondly, it's an update. You've made pledges to help the Government with the NDP6, which is the SWAPO Party Manifesto of 2025. What I want to highlight is creating jobs, 500,000 jobs, maybe just to update us as to what China is doing to help the Government achieve its dream, and also just in the areas of agriculture and sports. Thank you.

A: As I mentioned, we support Africa in its claims for reparations for the West to rectify historical injustice. We think morally it's the right thing for the West to make reparations for those historical injustices like the slave trade. I think this issue has been raised by more and more African countries — and not only them; some countries in Latin America have also voiced the same demand for reparations. We know that's a very tragic part of the history of our African friends. No one can imagine the level or the size of this kind of pain that has been inflicted on the African people. I think it's the legitimate right for African countries and for other countries to claim for such reparations. Maybe it's the first time for you to hear such position of the Chinese side, but it has indeed always been our position. There's no doubt we are fully supportive of such claim for reparations by African countries. That's the first point.

The second point, of course, we have also been following closely the implementation of the NDP6. We follow it closely because China is a close development partner of Namibia. We want to make our development assistance programs more tailored, or we want to align our development assistance program with your NDP6, to help your government in the implementation of NDP. Secondly, we follow the implementation of your NDP very closely, because in the process of your socio-economic development, there will emerge a lot of new opportunities for our bilateral economic cooperation. I think we will be very pleased to complement the efforts of the Namibian government in advancing social and economic development, by providing development assistance and expanding our economic cooperation in key areas that are a priority for your government in implementing the NDP. Thank you.

Q: Your Excellency. My name is Elvis. I'm with the Confidenté newspaper. First question, you have mentioned or alluded to the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women. You have also mentioned 1,000 "small and beautiful" projects and exchange programs and other key strategic initiatives which China has initiated in terms of empowering women capacity through the process of gender mainstreaming and so on. I just want to find out, all these projects and initiatives, which have reached? We have data in terms of which these beautiful projects and initiatives benefited Namibian women directly. Through the exchange programs, we have data to see how many of our women were captured or absorbed through this process as well.

Secondly, on the issue of reparative justice and your support for countries that are fighting for reparations and other processes in terms of the events of the past, Namibia has had a protracted case of the 1904-1908 genocide, of which, of course, is public knowledge. At what level has China supported the affected communities locally here? And what has been your intervention in terms of support, which you said you will be rendering in the fight? Thank you so much.

A: Thank you for your question. For the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, as I said, we did announce some new initiatives and measures, including the 1,000 "small and beautiful" projects. These announcements were just recently mentioned. It's our practice to implement what we announced. These are not just empty promises. It will be implemented with real action and measures. These projects will be available for all countries. I think in this process, usually just like what we have done before, we will approach various governments of various countries to solicit their ideas about which kind of projects or programs they are interested in.

In the case of Namibia, our two governments will also have some discussion in due time to see what projects Namibia would like to be included in. That's the usual way for us to implement that. And one thing I'm sure of is that Namibia will certainly benefit from the latest announcement by the Chinese side.

Regarding your second question, I don't want to go into this issue between your country and Germany in detail. But the general inclination of the Chinese government, as I mentioned, is that morally we support African countries' efforts in rectifying the historical injustice done to them. It's very clear. I don't want to discuss this specific issue. But the principled position is what I have already explained. Thank you.

Q: Good morning Ambassador. My name is Justicia Shipena and I come from the Windhoek Observer. My question relates to the tariffs. I think in June, President Xi Jinping announced that there will be a zero tariff for 53 African countries. And you said last month that China will soon scrap the tariffs for Namibia. I want to find out how far that negotiation is and how soon we can expect that to take effect. Then, recently, I think it was last week, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced that there would be a five-year visa option for investors. You were speaking about Chinese companies wanting to expand within Namibia. Do you think this is something Chinese companies would want to do? What is your reaction to this move?

Another question would be on the UN General Assembly, as you indicated and the UN Secretary General has said that, over the past five years, the SDGs were not on track and we just have five years left to achieve the targets within the SDGs. But as part of the G20 countries, China is one of the biggest emitters when it comes to CO2 emissions. What is China doing about this? And also, how are you helping countries like Namibia reduce their emissions, although Namibia is not one of the biggest emitters of CO2?

A: Thank you for your questions. You are right that Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will provide all the African countries having diplomatic relations with China with zero tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines by signing the agreement of China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development. The abbreviation of this agreement is CADEPA. As I said, I can assure you that we are sincere in implementing all the announcements and promises we have made. We are in the process of implementing this zero tariff treatment with all the African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, including Namibia. Actually, the recent visit to Namibia by the Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, one of their topics was about the zero tariff issue. We have full sincerity in providing zero tariff treatment to Namibia and other African countries.

In order to provide zero tariff treatment, relevant discussion is still needed, and we are trying to speed up this process. China itself is still a developing country. If we were a developed country, we can give zero tariff treatment to our good friends. That would be a different procedural practice. Because we are still a developing country, in order to implement this zero tariff treatment, there is a kind of practice we have to follow. The discussion is going on. We hope and believe that the discussion will be sped up with the joint efforts by China and the relevant African countries. So that's the answer to your first question.

For the second question, President Nandi-Ndaitwah has made a very encouraging announcement, which will certainly help Namibia attract more international investors. I think this announcement will also be well received by the Chinese business community. It is very important for every country to attract investors, and actually, it's one of the tools for a lot of countries to attract international investors.

For the SDGs, I think it faces a lot of challenges. It's not easy for the international community to achieve the goal of the SDGs according to the established timetable. China is the second largest donor to the United Nations, only after the US. But the US has not paid its contribution to the UN for quite some time already. We have always been making our contribution to the realization of the SDGs. And we are very proud that China, as a country, has already achieved the goals of the SDGs. We are also very happy to help other developing countries. We will provide our help through our bilateral development assistance programs, and also through our donations to relevant UN organizations, like UNESCO, WFP and those organizations. For example, currently we have eight agricultural experts working here in Namibia. We undertook this program in cooperation with the FAO. That's one of the examples. Thank you. Do you have any other questions?

Q: Yes, Ambassador, I just have a follow-up. As you indicated, China is one of the biggest contributors to the UN, and with the US pulling out its funding to various programs like UNESCO, do you feel that the pressure is on China to step up when it comes to aiding other countries?

A: I think the international community should put necessary pressure on those countries that have not paid their fee to the United Nations. China has always adopted a responsible attitude on international issues. Of course, I can not say what China will do specifically. But first, I think we will honor all our commitments. We will do our own job well. There will be no doubt about that. Thank you.

Q: Thank you, Your Excellency. My name is Loini Jonas, and I'm from the SWAPO Party Media Team. I have two questions that both stem from growth and mutual prosperity. The first one is, with China's economy projected to reach 14 trillion yuan, as mentioned earlier, how can Namibia deepen cooperation with China to promote sustainable growth and mutual prosperity?

The second one goes, how can African nations like Namibia leverage China's global development and governance initiatives to ensure advanced and shared growth and development within the Global South? As you have articulated earlier, Namibia is very much still a developing country, and although we have many initiatives and projects, we are growing but not at the same pace as China. So in simple terms, I want to know, what China is doing to ensure that, in partnering with African countries, Namibia is included in, and how you are going to ensure that we actually reach our level of development as well? Thank you.

A: There's enormous potential in our bilateral cooperation. Because you have your ambitious socio-economic development plan, and we also have our own ambitious plan. Both our governments are working very hard to achieve our goal of national development, and I've already said on many occasions that I do believe that Namibia will witness a big jump in your socio-economic development, and I still hold that view firmly. With the development of our national economies, there will certainly emerge more opportunities for economic cooperation. That's why I said that China's development will bring even greater opportunities for countries around the world. It's the same thing that Namibia's development will also bring new opportunities for other countries. I think it's very important for our two governments to strengthen communication in this area, let each other have a deeper understanding of our development progress, and to discuss what opportunities we can avail to further enhance our bilateral cooperation. Of course, we have been doing that, but maybe we can do more in this regard.

The other thing you mentioned is governance, right? Every country has its own national conditions, and because of that, we all develop our own way of governing our respective countries. From our perspective, we believe it's necessary for us to learn from the good experience of other countries. But that doesn't mean we should copy their models, because our national conditions are different. Our political system is different. Our cultural tradition is different. So we have to find a development path suited for our own national conditions.

In China, of course, we call it socialism with Chinese characteristics. We think we have found the right way for national development. We are pursuing Chinese modernization. We don't think there's only one path leading to modernization. That means it's not necessary for you to follow the example of Western countries in every aspect in order to achieve your own modernization. Because the history is different. We are at a different historical level of development. Also, Western countries are now facing a lot of challenges. Some of the challenges are actually originating from their systems, which they are very proud of. Maybe some of the root causes just lie with their systems. So we should act in our own way, according to our own judgment.

And it's also very important to have a strong sense of reforming ourselves. That's one of the experiences China learned from its own practice. Because whatever the system is, maybe it's a very good system at the moment or some time ago. But with the changing times, the situation and the reality will also change. So you have to reform your system to keep up with the times.

Today is the birthday of President Ndaitwah. I think it's a very good occasion for me to take this opportunity to wish Her Excellency a very happy birthday. Today is also the birthday of your Minister of Education. So I also wish Honorable Minister a happy birthday.

Thank you. I'm especially glad to see so many new friends joining us today. I want to take this opportunity to wish our friends from the media all the best.