On March 10th, the Tribune carried an article from Counsellor Cui Wei, the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in The Bahamas. The article was written in response to the groundless accusations from US military personnel, who suggested that China built its largest embassy in the world in The Bahamas and had appointed an aggressive ambassador who “uses the information space to undermine us each and every day”, and that China held The Bahamas and other Caribbean and Latin American countries in “economic coercion”.
The full text of the letter is as follows:
It cannot be further from the truth to suggest that China has built its largest embassy in the world in The Bahamas. We’re not even the largest Chinese Embassy in the Caribbean. Anyone who’s familiar with Nassau knows which Embassy is the biggest one on island.
Nor do we agree with the characterization of the Embassy’s work. The mission of the Chinese Embassy in The Bahamas is to promote friendly exchanges and mutual understanding between the two peoples and explore opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. We’re proud of the fact that we work hard every day to increase the well-being of the Chinese and Bahamian peoples. The unfounded accusations have only exposed the deep-seated misperception, strategic anxiety and zero-sum mentality with which a small number of people view China and its growing role in different parts of the world.
China is committed to developing friendly relations and open, win-win, innovative and people-centered cooperation with Latin America and Caribbean countries. Whether such cooperation is beneficial or not should be judged, first and foremost, by the people of this region. Latin America and the Caribbean should not be anyone’s "backyard", or an arena for major country competition. We urge those people to abandon their anachronistic Cold-War mentality, approach China-Latin America and China-Caribbean cooperation in an open and inclusive way, and stop overreacting to, politicizing, and undermining such cooperation.
As President Xi Jinping pointed out, the future of the world hinges on whether China and the United States can handle their relationship well. China will continue to follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forth by President Xi Jinping in pursuing a sound and stable relationship with the United States. We hope that the United States will work with China to explore the right way to get along with each other to the benefit of both countries and the entire world.
China-Bahamas relations should not and will not be held hostage by the misjudgment of the few, as this relationship enjoys the support of the people of both countries. We look forward to working with Bahamian colleagues and friends for the continued healthy and stable development of China-Bahamas relations to the greater benefit of both peoples.
