China never imposes its will on Africa — Chinese ambassador

Chinese ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping said China never imposes its own will or equal interests upon African countries.

“We are friends whether in the past, present or future. Never believe those saying China is pursuing so-called neocolonialism in Africa, which is not true at all.

“China and African countries have always been supporting and helping each other politically, economically and diplomatically. It is a mutually beneficial relationship,” he said.

Weiping was speaking during a meeting with the media in Windhoek on Wednesday.

“China never imposes its own will or interest upon African countries,” he said.

Weiping said it is ridiculous if someone says China is threatening the so-called rule based on international order.

“We have been advocating for the building of a global community with a shared future for mankind.
We proposed the global development initiative (GDI), the global security initiative, and the global civilisation initiative. These concepts or actions may not have pleased some countries, but there is nothing to blame ourselves,” he said.

Weiping said the purpose of this initiative is simply to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.

“In the GDI, we focus on issues such as socio-economic development that African countries are concerned with, namely poverty alleviation, food security, pandemic response, and vaccines, financing for development, industrialisation, and digital economy as well as connectivity,” he said.

Weiping added that some cooperation is in the direct interest of Africa, such as supporting the provision of sufficient, predictable and sustainable financial assistance to the African Union for it to carry out autonomous peacekeeping operations, supporting cooperation among China, and Africa with Europe on small arms and light weapons control under the premise of respecting the will of Africa.

“They also support the initiative of silencing the guns in Africa and resolving regional conflicts as well as calling on the international community to provide financial and technical support to Africa-led counter-terrorism operations and more.

I believe our African friends certainly agree with these points,” he said.

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