12 January 2023
Distinguished Mrs. Irena Cousins, President of Jamaica China Friendship Association(JCFA),
Distinguished members of the JCFA,
Wah Gwaan! It is a great pleasure for us to get together here at my Residence. Meeting you once again makes me feel very happy and friendly. We gathered at the Triple Tz restaurant last month to jointly celebrate the Christmas Day, the most important festival in Jamaica, and we enjoyed a wonderful night there. We come together tonight to jointly ring in and celebrate the Spring Festival, the most important traditional festival in China. I believe tonight will leave us much beautiful and unforgettable memory.
The Spring Festival is also called celebration of Lunar New Year. In China, celebrating Lunar New Year means kinship, reunion and the fantastic feeling of getting together with family members. You are all friends of the Embassy and the Chinese people. We are gathered here to recall our friendship, celebrate our reunion and enjoy our lovely time of being together like a big family. Celebrating Lunar New Year also means looking back on the past year and looking to the future year.
The past year is an extraordinary year for both China and Jamaica. We witnessed the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which outlined the grand blueprint and chartered the path for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. We witnessed the election of new CPC leadership at the First Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Xi Jinping was re-elected as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, which reflects the common will of all CPC members and whole Chinese people. We witnessed the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence and Jamaica has embarked on a new journey of realizing the goal of “Reigniting a Nation for Greatness”. We also witnessed the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Jamaica and the full success of a series of celebration events, making China-Jamaica friendly cooperation more deeply rooted in the hearts of both peoples.
In the past year, under the leadership of President Cousins, the JCFA has maintained close communication and cooperation withe the Embassy, and has done a lot for and made great contributions to the promotion of China-Jamaica relations and the enhancement of China-Jamaica friendship. The JCFA and the Embassy successfully hosted the Symposium on China-Jamaica Relations at 50 and Beyond, taking stock of the tangible benefits and fruitful results brought by our bilateral relations to our countries and peoples in the past five decades and looking forward to the bright future of China-Jamaica relations. The JCFA publicly issued a statement to condemn the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi’s visit to China’s Taiwan, expressing strong support for the one-China principle in Jamaica. The JCFA also actively introduced China’s socioeconomic development achievements to Jamaican people of various circles, enabling more Jamaicans to know more about China in an objective, authentic and comprehensive manner and making important contributions to consolidating popular support for the China-Jamaica Strategic Partnership.
I take this opportunity to express, on behalf of the Embassy and on my own behalf, our sincere gratitude and high tribute to President Cousins, to all of you here and to other members of the JCFA!
The year 2023 marks the beginning of China’s full implementation of the guiding principles laid down at the 20th CPC National Congress and a new journey to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects. As said by President Xi Jinping at his New Year address, China will “cherish peace and development and value friends and partners as it has always done, stand firm on the right side of history and on the side of human civilization and progress, and work hard to contribute its wisdom and solutions to the cause of peace and development for all humanity”. In the new year, China will work with Jamaica to take the beginning of the China-Jamaica relations in another 50 years as a new starting point to deepen cooperation in various fields, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and jointly implement the Global Development Initiative so as to promote the China-Jamaica Strategic Partnership to a new level and build a China-Jamaica community with a shared future in the new era.
In the new year, we believe that the JCFA will continue to play its role as the bridge and bond and exerting its important influence to vigorously promote friendly communication and consolidate traditional friendship between our peoples. We also believe that all members of the JCFA will continue to be supporters of China-Jamaica Strategic Partnership, forwarders of China-Jamaica practical cooperation and promoters of China-Jamaica cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and create more benefits for our two countries and peoples with concrete actions.
The Spring Festival will arrive in 9 days. At last, I want to send my early New Year wishes to you and through you, to your family members and friends. Wish you all Happy Chinese New Year with good luck, good health and happiness! Wish China and Jamaica be strong, prosperous and peaceful. May China-Jamaica friendship last forever!
Thank you all!