GOVERNMENT TUTORS M’MEMBE ……
“State Visits require invitation by a sovereign nation”
July 16, 2023
Government has provided diplomatic insight to Socialist party leader Fred M’membe on how State Visits are undertaken to a sovereign nation.
Providing an insight on State Visits this afternoon during a press briefing following Mr. M’membe’s assertions that President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA has finally conceded to guidance on the need to respect the Zambia – China friendship, Ministry of Information and Media Director Spokesperson Thabo Kawana disclosed that one cannot undertake a State Visit to a sovereign nation without invitation.
“We must emphasize to Mr. M’membe as he expulses his diplomatic ignorance that as a nation, you do not undertake a State Visit uninvited as you ought to be invited for you to undertake a State Visit to a sovereign nation,” Mr Kawana explained.
Mr. Kawana said that Zambia now has an invitation to visit China allowing the Republican President to undertake a State Visit.
The Director Spokesperson said it should have been common sense on the part of Mr. M’membe to realize that for a Head of State to visit a foreign country, the Head of State ought to be invited.
Meanwhile Mr. Kawana expressed disappointment with the unpalatable language used by Mr. M’membe towards President Hichilema’s visit to China and Zambia’s relations with that country.
Mr Kawana described Mr. M’membe’s utterances as not befitting someone who runs a political party and professes to be a government in waiting.
And Mr. Kawana described the relationship between Zambia and China as strong which spans a very long time from the countries fore fathers in Dr. Kenneth Kaunda and Mao Zedong, also known as Chairman Mao.
“There is no acrimony between Zambia and China, there is none, there has never been any and we do not foresee any at all,” he charged.
He cited the constant engagement between President Hichilema and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping and the recent visit to China by Commerce Minister Chipoka Mulenga.
Mr. Kawana said that all the relationships that were damaged internationally have been reconstructed and Zambia today remains a country that is a participant internationally.
“Our President and people have again been recognized and respected internationally after having a group of people who ruined the country’s reputation into the ground,” he said.
Since assuming office, President Hichilema has been rebuilding diplomatic links where these had been broken, utilizing these and existing relationships along with reawakening the country’s foreign missions.
(C) THE FALCON