Sino-Namibian relations

Sino-Namibian relations refer to the official and historical relations between to the People's Republic of China and Republic of Namibia. Governmental relations were first established the day after Namibia's independence, but relations with Namibian independence movements date back to the 1960s. [ [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cena/eng/zngx/t410246.htm Interpretation of China-Namibia Relations] in Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China]

Chinese support for independence movements

Beginning in the 1960s, during the Namibian War of Independence, China provided various indigenous Namibian independence movements (at first South West African National Union (SWANU) [ [http://www.swanu.org.na/swanu.htm SWANU official web site] ] and later South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) with "moral and material support". [ [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cena/eng/zngx/t410246.htm Interpretation of China-Namibia Relations] in Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China]

China since Namibian independence

PR China and Namibia established relations on 22 March, 1990, which was the day after Namibia's independence. [ [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cena/eng/zngx/t410246.htm Interpretation of China-Namibia Relations] in Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China] The government of Namibia is an adherent to the One-China policy. [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-12/20/content_504892.htm President Hu calls for closer China-Namibia ties] in China Daily, 20 December, 2005]

Economic relations

China and Namibia have developed close economic relations, with trade increasing two-fold between the two countries from 2003-2006. During a February 2007 visit, Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged Namibia "RMB 1 billion of concessional loans, 100 million US dollars of preferential export buyer's credit, RMB 30 million yuan of grants and RMB 30 million of interest-free loans..." [ [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cena/eng/zngx/t410246.htm Interpretation of China-Namibia Relations] in Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China]

An Yue Jiang scandal

In April 2008, a weapons shipment on the An Yue Jiang container ship from China to Zimbabwe was stopped from porting in South Africa. Seeking a destination for the ship, it was rumored that the ship would be port on Namibia's coast at Walvis Bay. On 24 April, 2008, a protest took place in Namibia's capital of Windhoek, where two hundred protesters marched from a local park to the Chinese embassy. [ [http://www.namibian.com.na/2008/April/national/08FD37BDE4.html Namibians say NO to arms] by Tanja Bause, The Namibian, 25 April 2008] The ship did not port in Namibia.

ee also

* Sino-African relations

References