Spanning for thousands of years and stretching for thousands of miles, the ancient Silk Road serves not only a route for trade and business, but also a channel for the exchange and integration of civilisations, making significant contributions to the development and progress of human society. Brunei has been an important part of the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times, said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Brunei Darussalam Xiao Jianguo in a message yesterday.
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, and Brunei responded actively with great support. The two sides signed related memorandum of understanding and cooperation plan in 2017 and 2018, to promote the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Brunei Vision 2035, and continuously cultivate more practical results for the benefit of the people of both countries.
Guided by the consensus of the heads of state, a solid political foundation based on friendship and mutual trust was built. China and Brunei are close neighbours across the sea, mutually trustworthy friends as well as partners for common development, setting a good example of equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between large and small countries.
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Chinese President Xi Jinping have maintained a good working relationship through frequent interactions.
In 2018, the president made a successful state visit to Brunei. In 2019, His Majesty attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, during which His Majesty met with the president. In 2022 and 2023, the two leaders met in Bangkok and San Francisco for two consecutive years, providing strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations, promoting high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road, and laying a solid foundation for the building of a China-Brunei community with shared future.
The economic and trade ties, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and win-win results. In the past decade, the bilateral trade between China and Brunei continued to grow rapidly.
The total trade value rose from USD1.936 billion in 2014 to USD2.805 billion in 2023, with an increase of about 45 per cent. Brunei’s exports to China surged from USD190 million in 2014 to USD1.947 billion in 2023, a cumulative increase of nearly nine-fold. China has become Brunei’s second largest source of investment and one of the top three trading partners. The two countries have obtained remarkable achievements in mutually beneficial cooperation.
The symbolic major projects, create new highlights in pragmatic cooperation. Hengyi Petrochemical, a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative, is hailed as the key to Brunei’s industrialisation, promoting the transformation of Brunei’s economic structure, assisting in its economic diversification, and driving about 10 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product. The collaborative Muara Port Company has been well-run, with its location advantages and port competitiveness constantly improved. The opening of a direct route from Muara Port to Qinzhou Port in 2023 marks another milestone in the cooperation between the two sides, promoting the docking and cooperation between China’s Western Land-Sea Corridor and the BIMP-EAGA.
The “small yet smart” hybrid rice cooperation has achieved initial results and contributed to ensuring Brunei’s food security. China and Brunei have also strengthened cooperation in emerging fields, fostering new growth points in industries such as digital economy, green development, artificial intelligence, and smart cities, promoting a steady and long-term cooperation, and the interests of the two countries are increasingly integrated.
The bonds of cultural exchanges, deep mutual understanding and closeness between the people, have seen frequent exchanges between the two sides in various fields, increasingly strengthening the emotional bond between our peoples. By conducting joint training programmes with local universities, Hengyi Petrochemical helps train local petrochemical professionals. People from all walks of life in Brunei visit China, participating in technical training to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.
In recent years, the Chinese Embassy in Brunei Darussalam also held activities such as China Day, China-Brunei Art Festival, China-Brunei friendship football match, Chinese Ambassador Award, China Film Festival, Calligraphy Competition, Composition Competition, Painting Competition, etc, to build platforms and provide opportunities for the Bruneian people to understand and perceive China, and effectively promote the people-to-people exchanges between the two sides.
As an ancient Chinese saying goes ‘Establish oneself, reach out to others and benefit the whole world’.
Looking ahead, we are willing to continuously take the strategic consensus reached by the two heads of state as the fundamental guidance, to deepen cooperation and exchanges in all-round fields, to upgrade the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, to advance the ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation into a broad and smooth path that serves the development of bilateral relations and benefits the people of the two countries, and navigate the two countries towards the goal of a China-Brunei community of shared future, the ambassador said.
