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Speech by H.E. Chinese Ambassador Yuanming Li,
At
the Reception Celebrating the 56th Anniversary of the
Founding of
the
People’s Republic of China
September, 30, 2005
Your Excellency Dame Ivy Dumont, Governor-General of The
Bahamas,
The Hon. Frederick. Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public
Service,
The Hon. Cabinet Ministers,
The Hon. Senators and Members of Parliament
My colleagues of the Diplomatic Corps and Honorary Consular
Corps,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me and my colleagues to welcome
you all to this reception. Thank you for coming.
October 1st this year is the 56th birthday of the
People’s Republic of China. For the past 56 years, China has scored
remarkable successes in developing production, improving people’s
living and assuming an important role in world affairs. This year
China’s economy is expected to continue expanding over 9%. As you may know, China has been maintaining an average
annual economic growth rate of 9% for more than 25 years since 1980’s.
Meanwhile, China’s reform and opening-up also bear witness to the
steady progress in the building of socialist democracy and the rule of
law, and extensive economic, social and political rights of the Chinese
people. Today China is becoming a country with political stability,
national harmony and fast economic growth. China’s
enter to the WTO and successful bid for the 2008 Olympics are proof of
progress that China has achieved. In fact, China’s development
had benefited not only the 1.3 billion people in China, but also the
economic growth in world at large, providing other countries with
enormous business opportunities and broad market.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Although much has been achieved, much more remains to be
done. We always keep sober mind that China is still a developing
country. No matter how big economic power China is, if it is divided by
1.3billion, per capital figure will become a very small one. We
understand that achieving our modernization goal will be a long way to
go and require very hard work. Therefore, China needs to build a
long-term and stable cooperative relationship with the rest of the
world, The Bahamas include. Likewise, a peaceful and prosperous world
requires a stable and prosperous China. In addition, today’s
world of globalization where issues like terrorism, environmental
protection, drug trafficking and illegal immigration calls for concerted
efforts of the international community. China will continue to play an
active role in the building of a peaceful, clean and prosperous world
for all mankind. Obviously, China’s development poses no threat
to any country but make more contribution to the peace and development
of the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The China has pursued an independent foreign policy of peace.
China right now has, on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefits,
established diplomatic relations with 165 nations. The friendship
between China and the Bahamas has been developing with more exchanges
and more contacts in recent years. Our two
peoples hold friendly sentiments towards each other. The Bahamas
National Youth Choir last year and a Junkanoo performing group this year
have successfully visited China. The Sino-Bahamas economic and
trade exchange and cooperation continue to grow. Bilateral trade volume
will be expected to exceed 120million US dollars in 2005. We should
continue to work together to develop the friendly and co-operative
relationship between us. This should benefit the two peoples and at same
time be conducive to peace, stability and common prosperity in the
world.
Dear friends, on this occasion, I wish
to thank, on behalf of all my colleagues in the Chinese embassy,
the Governor General, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Senators,
Members of Parliament, Chinese community and Bahamian friends for your
contribution to the friendship and cooperation between China and the
Bahamas.
May I propose a toast to the continual development of the relations
between China and the Bahamas, and to the success and happiness to all
my friends present here, cheers!
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