Nam wants China action on poachers

WINDHOEK-CHINESE nationals involved in criminal activities in Namibia are straining diplomatic relations between the two countries, The Southern Times has learnt.

Namibia and the East Asian giant established diplomatic relations in early 1990 and China has invested over R60 billion into Namibia over the past 26 years. China also assisted Namibia in building essential infrastructure including hospitals, schools and roads.

But the Chinese community in Namibia, believed to have a population of over 100,000, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons – inciting growing xenophobic sentiment from the hosts.

Chinese nationals’ involvement in illegal wildlife trade is blamed for fuelling rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia. Increasingly, Namibians including senior public officials are voicing their anger over these activities.

In March 2014, Wang Hui, 41, Li Xiaoliang, 32, Li Zhibing, 55 and Pu Xuexin, 51, were intercepted at Hosea Kutako International Airport attempting to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth R2.3 million and a leopard skin worth R50,000, out of the country.

The four were each sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Windhoek court. At the time, the case was the country’s record rhino horn smuggling incident.

Then, in November 2016, a 28-year-old Chinese man managed to sneak out of Namibia with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage at Hosea Kutako International Airport, before he was apprehended upon his arrival at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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