Distinguished guests, my fellow Chinese, ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

Today is autumn equinox - a Chinese solar term indicating harvest. By coincidence, tomorrow is the Republic Day for Trinidad and Tobago. It is a great pleasure to have you all here in this wonderful evening, celebrating the 64th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China.

On October 1st 64 years ago, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese people finally gained independence and freedom. 34 years ago, Mr. Deng Xiaoping introduced the reform and opening up policy, which led to a great improvement of the Chinese society, economy and people’s living standards. And now China comes to a new starting point - 34 weeks ago, the new leaders, with His Excellency Xi Jinping as the President, put forth the concept of the Chinese dream, which will be a principal guidance for China in the next several decades.

I have been asked by the local friends: what is the Chinese Dream and is there any special meaning for it?

The Chinese Dream is an integrated dream of those of the country, the nation and the individuals. It is a dream for prosperity of the country and rejuvenation of the nation, and also a dream for improvement of the society and for happiness of the people. The people of China have something in common with the people of Trinidad and Tobago – honesty, diligence and looking forward to better lives. In China, there are still 130 million people hoping to get rid of poverty; and those who have got rid of poverty hope to lead a well-off life. They look forward to better education, better work, better social welfare, and better environment. For all the Chinese people, the country’s prosperity, the nation’s rejuvenation and the individuals’ happiness are interconnected and complementary to each other, and they give it a vivid description as "The small streams rise when the main stream is high, when the main stream is low, the small streams run dry ".

The Chinese dream is also a dream of world peace and development. For the world, the Chinese dream, is firstly a peace dream. No dream could come true without world peace. The Chinese people value the current peaceful situation and have strived for international peace for our development, and enhanced world peace through our development.

Secondly, the Chinese dream is a dream of cooperative development. China has learned from the 30 years’ reform and opening up that, for our own development, we must enhance mutual beneficial cooperation with other countries. Through cooperation we achieve development, we solve disputes and we explore common interests. China will enhance cooperation with other countries when pursuing the Chinese dream. The Chinese dream has contributed, and will be contributing to the peace and development of the world.

Ladies and gentlemen – prosperity of the nation, happiness of the people and peace of the world would be a global dream pursued by all peoples no matter what language they speak: mandarin, English, Spanish or Portuguese.

I believe that the Trinidad and Tobago government and its people have dream of their own as well. The people here had been pursuing independence, freedom and emancipation 51 years ago; in its plan for 2015, the government attaches great importance to poverty reduction, security and economic diversification. Both China and Trinidad and Tobago share similar history, face similar issues, and have common interests and pursuing. China is willing to share the opportunities of development with Trinidad and Tobago, to achieve win-win and common development. The successful visit by President Xi Jinping to Trinidad and Tobago 3 months ago was a historical move to achieve the dreams of our both countries.

Time flies and the next year marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Trinidad and Tobago. Confucius said “At forty, I had no doubts”, or as an English saying goes “Life begins at 40”, which means that a 40 years old would be mature enough to have a very affirmative perspective about life, destiny, and the goal. Now, the bilateral relations between our two countries are at the time of no doubts. Thanks to the cooperative effort of the two governments and two peoples, our bilateral relations are more mature and more stable. We have witnessed stronger mutual political trust, closer economic and cultural ties between our two countries and closer friendship between the two peoples. I am glad to be posted as Ambassador in such a beautiful and friendly country, and I feel lucky to meet with such a great time of opportunity.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech "I Have a Dream" 50 years ago. I would like to use the same title, to share with you my dream.

I have a dream that one day the flowers of Poui bloom at the Great Wall, and the giant pandas play games with the kids of Trinidad and Tobago.

I have a dream that one day, the steel pans can be played at the Chinese Concert Hall, and Chinese dances can be performed at the Carnival.

I have a dream that one day, the Caribbean hummingbird flies across the ocean to Beijing and the Chinese phoenix arrives in Trinidad and Tobago without any transit.

I have a dream that one day, no more poverty and crime in our countries, but only happiness for everybody forever.

I have many similar dreams. It is my Chinese dream, and also my Trinidad and Tobago dream. It is a dream of a better China, a better Trinidad and Tobago, and a better world.

Dear friends, let’s toast to our common dream together!

Long live friendship!