The next stage of Namibia’s development will not be determined by the minerals it exports but by what it does with them as it pursues a transition from a resource-based economy to an industrial one.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s decision to start her China visit in Guangdong and Sichuan offered an unusually clear window into the country’s strategic thinking.
During any state visit, itinerary is strategy. The places a leader visits first communicate priorities more clearly than diplomatic communiqués.
These two provinces represent important parts of China’s own development experience: industrial vitality and agricultural resilience.
They offer a comprehensive window into how China approached two fundamental challenges many developing economies grapple with.
Guangdong, particularly Shenzhen, is at the forefront of China’s technological and industrial transformation.
For decades, it served as a laboratory for industrial upgrading, evolving from labour-intensive manufacturing to advanced manufacturing, and from technology absorption to indigenous innovation.
The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base, in particular, embodies this trajectory.
It demonstrates how a country can move from being a nuclear technology importer to a self-reliant operator and, ultimately, an exporter of civilian nuclear expertise.
This is not a blueprint imposed on a nation but rather a case study of how sustained investment, policy continuity and human capital development can reshape a country’s industrial landscape.
VALUE CHAINS
Today, China’s nuclear sector spans the entire value chain – from uranium enrichment to reactor design, from plant operation to spent-fuel management.
For countries that have uranium reserves, this vertical integration offers a reference point.
Many resource-rich economies have grappled with how to transform a natural resource endowment into domestic industrial capacity, rather than merely shipping raw materials abroad.
China’s experience does not provide ready-made answers but it does offer practical lessons in sequencing, regulation, talent cultivation and infrastructure planning – all of which are transferable in principle, even if specific policy choices must be tailored to each country’s circumstances.
If Guangdong showcases China’s path to industrial energy, Sichuan offers a different but equally instructive narrative: how to feed a large population under significant resource constraints.
China feeds nearly one-fifth of the world’s population with less than one-tenth of the world’s arable land, a statistic that speaks to decades of systematic investment in agricultural research.
Sichuan’s institutions have developed particular strengths in areas relevant to water-scarce and terrain-challenged environments: drought tolerant crop breeding, precision micro-irrigation, mechanisation for sloped and fragmented land, and post-harvest storage technologies that reduce spoilage in hot climates.
These are not exotic innovations. They are practical solutions developed in response to constraints shared by many regions worldwide.
DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS
Beyond the technological and policy dimensions, the visit took place against a shifting commercial backdrop. Industrial upgrading ultimately depends not only on production but also on access to markets.
In 2026, China expanded its zero-tariff treatment to all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties.
The commercial logic is not one-directional: technology cooperation can improve productive capacity, market access can create demand for higher-quality output, and together they can generate returns that reinvest in further upgrading.
This is a pattern that has characterised China’s own economic evolution, and is available as a reference for trading partners.
The visit also occurred during the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, an initiative that emphasises the human dimension of cooperation.
Infrastructure and investment agreements are important but are rarely sufficient on their own.
Technical cooperation in agriculture and energy requires sustained exchanges of scientists, extension workers, engineers and policymakers.
Research collaborations between universities, joint laboratories, vocational training programmes and youth fellowship schemes create personal relationships and institutional memory that allow the transfer of knowledge – not just as documents but as practice.
The people-to-people framework provides a structured platform for these interactions. It ensures that technological cooperation does not end with a memorandum but continues through hands-on training, site visits and long-term partnership arrangements.
EVOLVING ENGAGEMENT
In the context of Global South cooperation, the visit reflected an evolving model of engagement.
China’s development experience – with all its successes, setbacks and mid-course corrections – is available as a reference, not as a prescription.
Cooperation between China and African nations has increasingly moved towards frameworks that acknowledge each country’s agency in defining its priorities, and choosing which elements are relevant to its circumstances.
Guangdong and Sichuan were solid choices that speak for themselves.
What they offer is a concentrated view of China’s experience in two critical domains: energy infrastructure and agricultural productivity.
For any country interested in how these two challenges have been approached in practice, these provinces present a rich field of study.
The role of cooperation is not to define that strategy but to provide the tools, knowledge and partnerships that can help bring it to fruition.
– Song Ruixin is a reporter for CGTN Radio. She covers global news with a focus on international affairs and cross-cultural perspectives.
