WINDHOEK  - The Chargé d’ Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Namibia, Yang Jun, has lashed out at what he termed malicious and unfounded accusations against his country’s business models in Namibia. 

Speaking at the sending of the first consignment of beef from Namibia to China last week, Yang said increasing trade and economic connections between Namibia and China benefits both countries tremendously. 

However, there is one annoying phenomenon he points out. “Recently, there has been mounting accusations against Chinese companies and Chinese persons in Namibia from local media but most of these accusations are ill-founded; some totally lies and slander. For one example, someone accused Chinese businessmen of cutting and transporting logs to China.”  

“Actually, those Chinese businessmen form only a small fraction of the tree-trade dealers, and those cut-down trees are partially sold to China.” He stated that these biased opinions against China are poisonous to Namibia-China relations and will do damage to Namibia’s social well-being. 

“I sincerely urge local media to report in an objective way, and I also wish Namibian people to bravely stand out and speak out against those slanders against Chinese companies, with the aim to protect our friendship and comradeship, which should be treasured by both sides.”  Yang wished Meatco a successful venture in China, emphasising it would yield a more solid friendship and fruitful cooperation between the two countries.  A survey conducted last year showed that there were between 3 000 and 4 000 Chinese nationals living in Namibia, Yang said earlier this month. Yang was speaking at the fourth Dr Theo-Ben Gurirab Lecture Series in Windhoek. He noted that even though many Namibians believe that the number of Chinese in Namibia is extremely high, this is not the case because Chinese nationals in Namibia are far less compared to five to six years ago when at the time there were almost 10 000 Chinese nationals in the country. According to him the number declined because the local economy shrunk and Chinese are finding fewer business opportunities in the country.