(March 23, 2005)

Honorable Lempy Lukas, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Honorable Ministers,

Honorable Members of the Parliament,

Your Worship, Mayor of the City of Windhoek,

Distinguished Guests,

Members of the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are gathering here today with great joy to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations between China and Namibia. First of all, I would like, on behalf of my wife and all my colleagues at the Chinese Embassy, to extend my warm welcome to all of you and my heartfelt thanks for your kind presence.

Just on the next day, after the independence of Namibia 15 years ago, China and Namibia established diplomatic relations. This is the inevitable outcome of the development of the traditional friendship between the two peoples of China and Namibia. China rendered firm support to Namibian people's just struggle and forged a profound militant friendship with the Namibian people long time ago when Namibian people were fighting for the independence, hence the solid foundation for the further development of the relations between our two countries after the independence of Namibia.

Since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Namibia on March 22, 1990, the bilateral relations of our two countries have been developing smoothly on the basis of the principles of peaceful co-existence. The friendly cooperation between our two countries in various fields has been steadily expanding and bringing rich fruits. Our two countries have not only been learning from and helping each other in our respective nation building, but also closely cooperating and supporting each other in the international arena. Our two countries have been firmly supporting each other's strenuous tasks in maintaining independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, developing economy and improving people's living standard. The Chinese government and people have enjoyed valuable support from the Namibian government and People in the development of China into a strong country, especially on issues of Chinese sovereignty and dignity, such as Taiwan, Tibet and human rights issues, and the support in other international occasions. The Chinese government and people will never forget all of these valuable support.

Not long ago, soon after the National People's Congress of China adopted the Anti-Secession Law, the Namibian Government, the National Assembly of Namibia and the National Council of Namibia issued statements respectively to express their full understanding and support to the stand of China. The Anti-Secession Law is neither "a Law of War" nor "a Mobilization Order of War", rather, it is a law of promotion of the peaceful reunification of China and the development of the cross-strait relations, preventing Taiwan's secession from China and war, maintaining the peace and stability of Taiwan Strait and Asia Pacific Regions at large. It highly embodies the will of the 1.3 billion Chinese people including the Taiwan Compatriots. And it has gained the understanding and support of most of the countries and peoples in the world. Namibia is one of the early countries which have expressed understanding and support to the Anti-Secession Law by the National People's Congress of China.

The history of the development of Sino-Namibian relations fully proves that Namibia is one of the most reliable friends of China. In the past 15 years, regardless the constant change of world politics, our two countries have shared good relations all along and the bilateral cooperation has developed smoothly. It also proves that China and Namibia are "all-weather" good friends. The Chinese government and people will continue to make concerted efforts together with the Namibian government and people to push forward the even more comprehensive and in-depth development of friendly and cooperative relations between our two countries.

All our guests present here have made contributions in different categories to the development of the friendly relations between our two countries. I would like to mention Dr. Sam Nujoma in particular who is the founder and promoter of the friendly Sino-Namibian relations. He paid visits to China seven times before the independence of Namibia and five times after. Many Namibian leaders of the older generation also played active roles in the establishment and development of the friendly Sino-Namibian relations. The Chinese government and people will never forget those people who have made contributions, big or small, past or present. They all have their own niche in the history of the development of Sino-Namibian relations. I am very confident that China will have more and more friends in Namibia and more and more Namibian people will devote themselves to the development of the friendly and cooperative relations between our two countries. I am also convinced that under the leadership of the new President H. E. Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, the Sino-Namibia relations will be further developed.

To Conclude, I would like to propose a toast:

To the continuous growth of the traditional friendship between the peoples of China and Namibia,

To the further development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and Namibia, and

To the good health of H. E. President Pohamba,

To the good health of all the guests present here tonight,

Cheers!

Thank you.