Botswana's president hails Xi as revolutionary leader

Botswana's President Duma Gideon Boko has hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping as a revolutionary leader, praising his deep understanding of China's conditions and his proven track record of leadership, from his work in Fujian Province to his rise to the presidency.

In an exclusive interview with China Media Group on Thursday, Boko shared his impression of Xi, based on his understanding of Xi's leadership and governance philosophy.

"President Xi Jinping as a leader has been a revolutionary leader, a leader who has understood the concrete material conditions of China, has been able to devise approaches and strategies from that relationship, from that understanding and from that conjunctural analysis of the circumstances of China has been able to chart a path to a future that China has been able to pursue and is in the process of attaining," Boko said.

"So you have in President Xi Jinping, as I said, a demonstrable track record; his active involvement in the Fujian Province and his ultimate rise to the presidency of the People's Republic of China is testimony to his resilience, to his depth of understanding, to his wisdom in leadership and to his integrity in his dealings, not only with his own people in China, but with the rest of the world, especially with Botswana," he said.

Boko is on a six-day state visit to China that began on Monday, his first since taking office in November 2024.

Botswana's president hails Xi as revolutionary leader

Botswana rejects any attempt to carve up Chinese territory or undermine its sovereignty, President Duma Gideon Boko said on Thursday, in the southern African nation's latest reaffirmation of the one-China principle.

Boko made the remarks in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) during his six-day state visit to China, which began on Monday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"The one-China principle is inconsistent with anything that seeks to dismember, to parcel out certain portions of Chinese territory and diminish its sovereignty and integrity. And so, the question of Taiwan, to the extent that it seeks the outcome of a dismemberment is inconsistent with our stance on the one-China policy, the one-China principle. And it is something that we can neither countenance nor support," he said.

Earlier this week, China and Botswana issued a joint statement on the establishment of a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, in which Botswana recognized that there is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

Botswana committed to one-China principle: Botswana's president