BEIJING — Botswana’s diamond economy is in a slump, and a joint statement signed in Beijing this week promises better access for Botswana’s diamonds to the Chinese market.
President Duma Gideon Boko held talks with Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday, after a welcome ceremony with a 21-gun salute. The two leaders elevated ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, 51 years after diplomatic relations began. The statement says Boko’s state visit runs from October 12 to 17.
The paragraph that matters most to Gaborone is short. The statement says the two sides “agreed to strengthen cooperation in the diamond sector, including through the Kimberley Process, and enhance access for Botswana’s diamond products to the Chinese market.” It also records cooperation on the Khoemacau Copper Mine and a memorandum on green mining. No volumes, tariffs, quotas or dates are given.
The stakes are national. As TEH reported, Botswana’s diamond slump has cost mine workers their jobs: diamonds account for roughly 70 percent of export earnings and about a third of government revenue, and Debswana cut output by about 27 percent in 2024 as prices fell and laboratory-grown stones spread. A market that takes more of its gems matters more than any single sentence about friendship.
Xi’s own message, CGTN reported, was about structure. He urged both sides to use China’s zero-tariff treatment for African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, and put forward four principles for mining cooperation: African resources should benefit Africa, cooperation should be mutually beneficial, development should be high quality, and the business environment should be fair and open. The joint statement adds that Botswana’s beef, citrus and other farm products will get expanded market opportunities, subject to technical and sanitary requirements, and that both sides will speed early-harvest arrangements under an economic partnership agreement within the Southern African Customs Union.
The other side of the ledger is political. Botswana reaffirmed the one-China principle, opposed “Taiwan independence,” supported China’s efforts at reunification and called matters concerning Xinjiang, Xizang and Hong Kong internal affairs of China. The statement also criticises the politicisation of human rights and double standards.
China’s appetite for imports is real: China broke 5 trillion yuan in monthly trade in September, as TEH reported. Whether any of that demand reaches Botswana’s mines depends on measures the statement does not name.
What neither side has said is how much. A pledge to “enhance access” is a direction, not a number, and the first real test will be whether Chinese buyers of natural diamonds change their orders in the months after this visit.
