Museveni writes to outgoing Chinese envoy, appreciates wife's 'wonderful art'

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President Yoweri Museveni has written to outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong and his wife, Lin Yaqun, appreciating their ‘wonderful’ work in Uganda. 

In the three-page handwritten letter dated January 23, 2026, Museveni writes: “I have looked at the wonderful work of Her Excellency Lin Yaqun, the wife of the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Uganda, His Excellency Zhang Lizhong. Her work is wonderful. Her work will help foreigners to realise the pleasure they miss by not visiting Uganda.” 

(Courtesy: Chinese Embassy)

(Courtesy: Chinese Embassy)

Four years of service 

The Chinese Embassy in Kampala recently announced that Ambassador Zhang will be redeployed in Beijing after four years and seven months of service in Uganda. His tenure of service was commended by Kampala officials as highly successful. 

“Beyond the achievements that have been recorded during your tenure, you will be remembered for your distinct working style and personal approach to diplomacy,” Vincent Bagiire, permanent secretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said at a farewell dinner hosted at the Embassy a fortnight ago. 

Museveni meets Zhang 

Before Zhang officially concluded his tour of duty last week, he met the President at his Kisozi farm in Gomba district, where the President congratulated him upon completing his tour of duty in Uganda. It was at the meeting that the President handed the letter to the couple, that was among others accompanied by the Chinese Embassy senior officials and the foreign affairs ministry senior staff led by the permanent secretary. While meeting the Chinese envoy, the President expressed gratitude that the bilateral relationship between Uganda and China has continued to grow stronger. 

“I am happy to note that Uganda’s exports to China have increased to $138m (sh4.5b), although this is still not enough and we should be able to do much more,” he said. 

Museveni further welcomed the decision by the Chinese government to remove taxes on Ugandan exports, which he said would greatly support the country’s trade and wealth creation efforts. 

“Regarding Chinese investments in Uganda, we have been supporting Chinese interests for a long time, and we shall continue to do so,” he noted. 

Among other achievements of Zhang are 13 painting events, which were organised by Zhang and his wife (2024 and 2025), with a total of 386 students from 70 schools participating in the competition. 

Symbol of deepening friendship 

On his part, Zhang expressed gratitude to the President and the Ugandan government for the support and collaboration extended to him throughout his tenure. Commenting on Museveni’s handwritten letter, a senior official at the Chinese Embassy said: “We believe this personal letter is a powerful symbol of the deepening political mutual trust and the special friendship between our two nations.” 

The official added: “It resonates perfectly with the broader context of China-Africa relations, particularly as we embark on the 2026 China-Africa Year of Cultural and People-to- People exchanges aimed at cementing all-weather friendship and jointly pursuing modernisation.” 

China-Africa Year 

The 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People exchanges was on January 8, 2026, at the African Union AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter. President Xi elaborated on the significance of mutual learning among civilisations in advancing modernisation for China and Africa and outlined the direction and principles of China-Africa people-to-people, cultural exchanges and cooperation. 

The Chinese leader argued that this fully demonstrated deep reflections on human history and civilisation and provided important guidance for building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. 

In the letter, President Museveni said it was good that more ‘outsiders’ were discovering the ‘hidden’ facts about Uganda. 

“Indeed, the previous president of the Ugandan-Indian Association had described Uganda as the land of three Ps: peaceful, pleasant and profitable. Why is this so? It is on the account of the confluence of latitude (the Equator), altitude (the high elevation of the country) and the heritage (the ancient cultures of the interlacustrine Bantus, Nilotics and other people of these lands of the Great Lakes of Africa),” President Museveni writes.