May 23 marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between the People's Republic of China and the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, which coincides with first sitting of the House of Assembly following the May 7 general election of The Bahamas. I hereby wish to express once again my sincere congratulations to the new government. In the meantime, I wish to take this opportunity to review the gratifying achievements which have been made between China and The Bahamas in such fields as politics, the economy, investment, culture and education, and look forward to the future potential and opportunities before us. By so doing, I hope that we can take the two important events as an opportunity for greater achievements between us and raise the bilateral relations to a new height.
Despite the far distance between the two countries, the exchange between China and The Bahamas has a long history, with people-to-people friendly contact for at least over a century. The fact that there are no historical grievances or immediate disputes between China and The Bahamas lays a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Moreover, it is also in line with the interests of the two countries and the two peoples to develop the bilateral relations.
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the relationship between China and The Bahamas has entered a new era of comprehensive development. The two countries surmounted the differences in ideology and social system, worked closely together and brought the advantage of the mutual complementarities into full play, thus resulting in rich rewards.
Politically, China and The Bahamas have respected each other and treated each other equally, giving rise to the frequent high-level exchange of visits. Here I just want to mention some of the important ones. Former Governor General Orville Turnquest, Prime Minister Perry Christie and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham visited China in 1999, 2004 and 1997, respectively. Former President of the Senate Lynn Holowesko and Former Speaker of the House Alvin Smith visited China in 2010. Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), Vice Chairman Cheng Siwei of the NPC visited The Bahamas in 2009 and 2005, respectively. Vice Premier Hui Liangyu and Vice Premier Wang Qishan visited The Bahamas in 2009 and 2011 in succession. We also have State Counsellor Wu Yi and Deputy Chair Wang Lequan of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee who visited The Bahamas in 2003 and 2011, respectively.
Through those high-level exchange of visits, mutual political trust between the two countries has been strengthened and mutual understanding has been promoted, which set the right orientation of the bilateral friendly cooperation and laid a solid foundation for the bilateral cooperation in varying sectors.
Apart from the visits at the state level, there were also a number of ministerial-level exchange of visits between the two countries.

Trade and economy
In the international and regional arena, China and The Bahamas share the same or similar stance in major international and regional issues and have maintained good communication and coordination.
Economically, the two countries have realized a win-win scenario through cooperation of equality and mutual-benefit. China and The Bahamas are highly complementary, with great potential of cooperation and a wide range of cooperative sectors.
Over the years, China and The Bahamas have signed a number of agreements related to the economy, trade and relevant areas, such as the agreement on maritime transactions, the agreement on protection and promotion of mutual investment, the agreement for the exchange of information for tax purposes, the agreements on economic and technical cooperation, the MOU on the implementation of Chinese tourist groups to The Bahamas and the MOU on agricultural cooperation.
The signing of those agreements and MOUs has provided legal framework for the bilateral cooperation in relevant fields. Through bringing the advantage of complementarities into full play, the trade between the two countries has kept increasing, mutual investment has kept expanding, which has brought real benefits to the two countries and the two peoples.
According to statistics, the total trade volume between the two countries in recent years has been at the level of over US$600 million. Chinese enterprises have invested US$150 million as well as a US$2.45 billion commercial loan in The Bahamas. At the same time, The Bahamas has all together invested 194 projects in China, with the total contact volume of US$187.7 million.
In addition, China and The Bahamas have jointly worked together for some projects in The Bahamas by means of using Chinese preferential loans as well as Chinese assistance under bilateral economic and technical agreements.
The newly-dedicated Thomas A. Robison National Stadium of The Bahamas is a hallmark project of the China-Bahamas economic and technical cooperation, which has made the long-term desire of the Bahamian people come true. The Airport Gateway Project is going on well.
And the Baha Mar mega-resort, which the Chinese side has offered commercial loans for, partly invested in and is conducting the construction of, has already created more than a 1,000 job opportunities for the locals, thus having effectively reduced the negative impact on the Bahamian employment caused by the current global financial crisis. It is expected that, upon the completion by the end of 2014, the project will create a total of more than 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, which, I am sure, will provide fresh impetus for the growth of the Bahamian tourism industry in particular, and for the economy as a whole.
Talking about the economic cooperation between China and The Bahamas, I'd like to stress the principle China has all along upheld, that is, the economic cooperation between China and The Bahamas is with no political string attached, with no other country targeted at and with no exclusion of the third party.

Culture and education
Culturally and Educationally, the two countries have drawn on the merits of each other and sought mutual complementarities. An acrobatic troupe, a puppet show troupe and a children's performance troupe from China visited The Bahamas while the national youth choir and a song and dance troupe visited China. The president of the Nassau Music Society went to China recently for a visit while the president of the Chinese Musicians Association will visit The Bahamas with a string quartet in his company in early July. And also, China will for the first time take part in the Bahamas International Film Festival in December.
Over the past years, the Chinese government has provided full scholarships for 40 Bahamian students to study in China, and has provided approximately 100 Bahamian government and professional personnel with various symposiums and seminars in China. In order to meet the needs of the Bahamians in their enthusiasm of learning the Chinese language as well as the Chinese culture, a Confucius Class was set up at The College of The Bahamas in 2009 and, with mutual consent, it will be upgraded to a Confucius Institute. Now both sides are working hard for that and the inauguration is sure to be realized soon.
In areas such as tourism, agriculture, aviation and health, both sides have also conducted useful communication and research. I am sure new progress will be made steadily.

A look ahead
Through the above brief review, it is not hard to see that the past 15 years are 15 years of considerable progress between China and The Bahamas, with mutual trust increased, friendship deepened and cooperation expanded. The past 15 years are 15 years worthy of congratulations for the tangible benefits brought to the two countries and the two peoples. And the past 15 years are 15 years of win-win cooperation, with common development fostered and thus the win-win goal realized.
Looking ahead, both countries are in an important stage for economic and social development, and thus having broad common interests between them. I can foresee a bright prospect for further development in the bilateral relationship and that a lot more can be done in many aspects.
With the in-depth development of economic globalization and the rapid progress of technology, in particular information technology, the world is becoming "smaller and smaller", just like "an earth village". All countries are so intertwined and interdependent. Their interests are fused to such an unprecedented level that the common interests are becoming broader and broader. There are more and more things demanding joint efforts and the desire of mutual cooperation has never been so strong. Such being the case, the world in some sense is becoming a "community of interests", no country can gain development with itself isolated.
As a big responsible developing country, China pursues an independent foreign policy of peace and sticks to a peaceful development road. It has all along dedicated itself to a harmonious society domestically and has initiated an ever-lasting harmonious world internationally.
Over the past 30 years, China has obtained eye-catching achievements with a long-term steady and relatively fast development by opening up and reform - in particular by its strategy of "going global" and "bringing in". By 2010, China had attracted an accumulative amount of US$759.5 billion in foreign capital, ranking first in the world. Meanwhile, the capital Chinese enterprises invested overseas also increased very fast, the amount of which in the year 2010 alone reached up to US$68.8 billion. In 2011, China's total GDP was close to US$7.5 trillion, ranking second in the world. The current foreign exchange reserve had reached over US$3.18 trillion.
Through reform and opening-up, China has not only developed itself but contributed positively to the economic and social development of the rest of the world, thus realizing its goal of common development. Just as Chinese President Hu Jintao put it, China is willing to work together with people from all other countries to share the development opportunities and to cope with all sorts of challenges so that more countries and peoples could benefit from the development of China. The Bahamas is of course included.
In 2011, the relations between China and the Caribbean countries continued to develop. The six measures raised by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan at the third Forum on China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation are well received by the Caribbean countries.
Tourism is regarded as the pillar of the Bahamian economy. It is imperative to open up new markets to maintain healthy development of this pillar industry, and China is an ideal choice in this regard. With the continuous growth of the Chinese economy, the number of outbound Chinese visitors is increasing year by year.
In 2011, the number climbed up to a new high of 70.25 million persons, and the Chinese tourists have eyed some leading world tourism destinations that are not well-known in China such as The Bahamas. In 2011, the number of Chinese tourists and business travelers that directly went from China to the U.S. was 1.36 million persons. This year, the number will possibly be close to nearly two million.
Suppose The Bahamas government provides policy convenience for Chinese tourists? It will surely stimulate the tourism industry of The Bahamas. If direct flights between China and The Bahamas can be in place, it will further promote the development of the Bahamian tourism and related industries.
China is a big traditional agricultural country, successfully feeding 20 percent of world's population with only seven percent of the world's arable land. China has the advantage of money and technology while The Bahamas has unused land for agricultural development. If the Bahamians are self-sufficient in agriculture, the living cost will be greatly reduced. So I believe that there's great potential for China and The Bahamas to cooperate in agriculture.
Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history of several thousand years, and it is quite effective to all kinds of diseases, in particular some difficult and complicated cases. The Bahamas has abundant plants that can be used as medicine and some folk prescriptions. If China and The Bahamas can carry out cooperation in this area, bringing in some Chinese medical skills that are less costly yet very effective, such as acupuncture and bone specialty (orthopedics), it will really be good news to the Bahamians.
A good beginning is half a battle. With the good beginning of cultural exchange between the two countries, I am fully convinced that the cultural exchange will develop further together with the increase of contact of personnel between the two countries.
The Bahamas is also a wind and sun rich country while China has advanced skills and capability in wind and solar power. Cooperation in this area will not only reduce the electricity costs of the Bahamian people, but effectively protect the Bahamian environment from being damaged.
I am delighted to feel that it has become a consensus between the government and the general public of The Bahamas to further develop China-Bahamas relations. I am fully confident of the future development of the bilateral relationship and the future prospect of The Bahamas as well. The Chinese side is willing to take the opportunity of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries to carry on the past and open a way for the future. We will work together with the Bahamian side for more cooperative fields and greater achievements in effort to make more contributions to the two countries and the two peoples as well as the peace and development of the world.

o Hu Shan is the Chinese ambassador to The Bahamas.

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