Time flies like an arrow. We have just bid farewell to 2024 with harvest and joy, and are now ushering in the brand new 2025 with expectations and dreams. At this holiday season I would like to extend my sincere greetings and best wishes to all Jamaican friends and Chinese compatriots in Jamaica.

The year 2024 marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It was also a crucial year in China’s development process, during which Chinese modernisation took new and solid steps. From January to November 2024, China’s foreign trade of goods jumped 4.9 per cent year on year to more than US$5.5 trillion. The added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by nine per cent. The output of green industry, such as new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products, grew at a double-digit pace. If you visit China today, you will surely be welcomed by a new sight in which new quality productive forces are surging forward and high-quality development keeps pace with the times.

Significant to both countries, 2024 also marked the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership and the signing of the cooperation plan on jointly promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) between China and Jamaica, and the 170th anniversary of Chinese arrival in Jamaica.

Over the past year, the highlights of China-Jamaica relations encouragingly took place one after another. In 2024, the bilateral relationship grew from strength to strength, striking up mutual respect and trust. Under the close communication of our leaders, the two sides have always been reinforcing mutual support on issues involving each other’s core interests and concerns.

His Excellency Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and minister of foreign affairs of China, paid a successful visit to Jamaica, injecting strong impetus to China-Jamaica strategic partnership.

When Hurricane Beryl raged across the country, I went to the affected area within a short period of time and handed out aid supplies in urgent need. The locals held my hands tight and expressed their appreciation and expectation for a speedy recovery. It was so touching. I can never forget the sincerity and resilience in their eyes.

In 2024, we witnessed fruitful results of the practical cooperation, which accelerated our common development. Prime Minister Andrew Holness and I attended the official opening of Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project Part B II and the ground-breaking ceremony of Boundbrook Urban Centre. Delegations from Gansu, Shandong, and Guangdong provinces visited Jamaica. China-Jamaica Business Dialogue, China (Shandong)-Jamaica Cooperation Roundtable and Conference of Chinese (Guangdong) Merchants and Enterprises in Jamaica have been successfully held, further expanding the platform of our future cooperation.

In 2024, the people-to-people exchanges wrote a new chapter of our bilateral bonds. In the first Chinese Culture Festival, Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and I enjoyed the Chinese acrobatics performance, and we also invited Jamaican friends to visit the Chinese garden and taste Chinese cuisine.

At Earnest Institute for the Gifted, Hyperactive and Talented, the children joined me in unveiling the very first plaque of “Family of China-Jamaica Friendship”. At my media briefing on occasion of the second anniversary of appointment, active exchanges on the bright future of China-Jamaica relations were done among many mainstream media representatives and me.

China provided Jamaica with more opportunities to visit or get trained in China, which benefited hundreds of people from all walks of life in Jamaica. The increasingly close cultural exchanges between China and Jamaica will effectively consolidate the social ground of our friendship, and become a solid spiritual bond between our two peoples.

In front of us, the road of development is broad and the golden opportunities are right here. Year 2025 is the year when China’s 14th Five-Year Plan will be completed. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the operation of China-CELAC Forum.

Looking to the future, I am full of hope. I look forward to working with all Jamaican friends and my compatriots here, to further strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and promote China-Jamaica strategic partnership to a new level, bringing more benefits to the two peoples.

The new year’s bell has rung and history begins to turn a new page. Sincerely, I wish the peoples of both countries a happy new year and good health. I wish China and Jamaica prosperity and peace. I wish China-Jamaica relations to rise to an even higher level and the friendship between the two peoples to last forever. On the new journey, let’s ride forward together.

— Chen Daojiang is China’s Ambassador to Jamaica