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Memory of Being Ambassador of PRC to Grenada


Xu Jianguo I came to know that I was appointed as Ambassador of PRC to Grenada when I was escorting former Prime Minister of Vanuatu on a visit to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in June 2010. Later on I was informed to get prepared for the appointment. Grenada locates in the Caribbean region of which I was aware since I had worked in the bureau in charge of Latin American affairs of the International Department of the Central Committee of CPC. And I had also worked in the Embassies in the Caribbean region and Africa, so I was familiar with the region and the work in the embassy. After going through certain procedures, I left for the assumption of the post on October 27 the same year. I In order to get more information about the country, I visited the Grenadian booth in the Caribbean Pavilion in the Shanghai Expo before departure. Covering an area of 340 square km, Grenada is a small island country in the Caribbean region. It takes only four hours to travel around the island. The total population of Grenada is only about 100,000. It could rarely be found on the map. It is less known to people in China. However, it once caught people’s attention in the 1980s when the United States and the Soviet Union were at the state of cold war. The left-wing Grenadian government followed a pro-Soviet policy and actively developed its relations with Cuba. A large amount of troops were stationed in Grenada, which alerted the US. The Regan administration decided to intervene. In October 1983, the United Forces led by the US invaded Grenada amidst its turmoil and toppled down the left-wing government. The incident made Grenada known to the world and brought the country to the minds of the Chinese people for the first time. I found it a beautiful island on my arrival. Formed by the eruption of volcano, the mountains, forests, blue sky and white beach all make it even more beautiful. Tourism thrives based on the lively scenery. There were over 360 cruise ships coming into Grenada each year during the peak times, almost one per day. A great number of retirees from Europe and America buy real estate here to spend the remaining years. The African descendants account for a majority of the Grenadian population which enables the traditional African culture to be kept here. Meanwhile, Grenada used to be colony of Britain and France. As a result, its politics, economy, culture and living habit are deeply affected by the mixture of Europe and America, together with other Caribbean islands to form the unique Caribbean culture. With limited opportunities in such a narrow land, a great number of Grenadians go abroad to seek their development and form a huge overseas Grenadian community, mostly in America, Europe and other Caribbean countries. It is said that the number of overseas Grenadians is even larger than that in the country, therefore the remittance has become an important source of income for Grenada. Grenada is renowned as Isle of Spice. The island is rich in Myristica fragrans, a fruit that could be made into essence and flavor, which is its major export product. It is said its production volume ranks second in the world with Indonesia as number-one producer. I once visited a Myristica fragrans processing workshop. The means used was still quite primitive, mainly manual work. Besides, Grenada also produces tropical fruits and vegetables, though in small scale, not to mention industrial products and daily necessities, which they can hardly produce. So you can find that most products in Grenadian markets and supermarkets are imported from Europe, America and other Carribean countries. There are also Chinese products, like hardware, kitchen ware, toys, which entered Grenada mainly through transit trade. In 2004, a hurricane struck Grenada, causing severe losses in tourism and agriculture, Myristica fragrans in particular, which has not recovered by far. Ⅱ China established diplomatic relationship with Grenada in 1985. However, Grenadian government declared the establishment of diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in 1989, so China broke off relations with it. With the development of reform and opening-up, the international status and influence rised along with the growth of the overall strength of China, the Grenadian government weighed pros and cons and resumed formal diplomatic relationship with China in 2005. Since the resumption of diplomatic relationship, the Grenadian government has attached great importance to the bilateral relations. I arrived in Grenada on October 27, 2010. Three days later, a delegation headed by Xie Zhenghua, Vice-Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission, PRC would arrive in Grenada for the ministerial conference on climate change. For the convenience of work, the Embassy requested whether we could present the credential before the arrival of Mr. Xie. To our surprise, the Governor-General agreed joyfully. Therefore, on October 29, when presenting the credential, I expressed my thanks to Governor-General for Grenada to break routines to accept the credential. The Governor-General said he was pleased to provide convenience to friends. Afterwards, the officials of Grenada have been the old friends of the Embassy. Whenever we invited them to attend big events in the Embassy, the Grenadian officials would come for sure. In the coming days, I called on leading officials of Grenadian government and leaders of major political parties. It did not take long for me to build close personal relations with them, which laid foundation for me to conduct work there. Since Grenada is a small country, I can often meet high-ranking government officials and acquaintances when walking on the street or shopping. We chatted with each other and made new friends. Economic and trade cooperation serve as the foundation to develop state-to-state relations. I spent a lot of energy on this regard. China provides certain assistance to Grenada based on relevant agreements. Among them are cricket field, affordable housing and demonstration farm. Cricket is the most popular sports in Grenada. In 2004, the original cricket stadium was completely destroyed by hurricane. The Caribbean area match of the World Cricket Championship would be held in one year and Grenada was one of the major fields. Grenadian government was very anxious and hoped the new field could be finished before the match. The field was constructed by a company from China’s Anhui Province. Thanks to the hard work of the assistance workers, a new field came into being in less than a year. The Grenadians are still credited for it by far. The field was finished before my arrival and the match had been already held. According to Chinese standards, a stadium of such scale is not a big one, but in Grenada it belongs to a large-scale architecture. Now the cricket stadium is the landmark architecture in Grenadian people’s minds, which has also become a tourist site, attracting many tourists. Many national activities of Grenada are also held there. What’s more important is that it has become the symbol of China-Grenada friendship. Before I finished my tenure, our both sides reached an agreement to repair Grenadian ground track field. At present, the program is under way. Its completion will consolidate the bilateral relations further. Affordable housing is another example. A great amount of houses were destroyed by the hurricane in 2004, resulting in many homeless citizens. According to the agreement reached by both sides, China would build a batch of low-cost housing for Grenada. Phase one project, about 300 houses, shattered in 3 different areas, was just started by Beijing Construction Engineering Group when I arrived in Grenada. The project was for people’s well-being so Grenadian people were looking forward to its completion. Many people applied for houses even before its completion, and some visited the construction sites from time to time. I paid close attention to this, and visited the construction sites for several times and requested the constructors to ensure the quality of construction. The project was finished after two years of efforts. The houses with red roofs and yellow walls are quite spectacular in the sun, especially those built in No.2 construction field facing the sea. With the completion of supporting equipment like water and electricity, the houses were well ready for living. All this happened after I left my post. I heard that all the houses have been distributed. When project phase I were under construction, I had concerned about the site of phase II. Grenada locates in the mountainous areas with limited flat land. The better ones are privately owned. The government has little land that could be used. Thus, I once traveled with officials of Housing Authority of Grenada to the mountainous areas to select land that could be used for construction. We have narrowed down several lands, but none of them could well meet our expectations. I have no idea how things are going now. China Demonstration Farm is another cooperative program. Prior to the resumption of diplomatic relations, the farm was run by Taiwan aid workers. After the resumption, it was taken over by a Xijiang company. Its main purpose is to teach local people how to plant vegetable and flowers, how to use and maintain agricultural machinery, how to operate artificial insemination of livestock and conduct cooperation in relevant areas. Farm workers work very hard. They have to stay in the sun and basked black. I went to the farm often to extend my regards to them. Since it was managed by Taiwanese before, local people always compared us with Taiwanese. Thereafter, I have encouraged them to do a better work than the Taiwanese. The flowers cultivated in the farm attracted the attention of local people. Some government officials came to fetch flowers to decorate their offices. The farm also provides flowers for major government events. The flowers produced in the farm also won prizes in flower exhibitions in Grenada, the Caribbean region and even in UK. The then Prime Minister Tomas attached great importance to agriculture. We provided Grenada with agricultural mechanics and means of production like tractors and sprayers through the farm. Prime Minister Tomas attended each of the handover ceremony and Grenadian media covered the issues and created good influence. And tourism agency also brought tourists to the farm sometimes. Ⅲ During my tenure, in the context of the development of relations between China and the Caribbean region, the China-Grenada bilateral relations gradually heated up and personnel exchanges also increased. During that time, National People’s Congress, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China Import and Export Bank, China National Offshore Oil Corporation all sent delegations to Grenada. At people-to-people level, Guangdong and Tianjin conducted extensive exchanges and cooperation with Grenada. Some economic organizations also came to explore opportunities for economic cooperation. Meanwhile, the Grenadian government and political party delegations also visited China. Besides, the number of Grenadian students studying in China and people of different sectors visiting China is on the rise. So far, there are dozens of students studying in China, plus those who have studied in China for short term. I have met some students and people from other sectors sometimes. They all have deep impression of China and some of them have become the bond for people-to-people communication and understanding between our two countries. With the increase of international influence and the development of China-Grenada relations, the Grenadians desire to know more about China. The top university of Grenada, Maryshow Community College also opened a Chinese language class. Teachers from China are working here. I went to the class and presented some Chinese books including some language textbooks to the students. The college holds international food festival every year, and Chinese food is indispensible on this occasion. The faculty and students are very interested in this and come to the Chinese Embassy to learn Chinese customs. There are various Chinese elements in the festival, Chinese cheongsam, lantern and Chinese food. Every year Grenada holds charity bazaar, on which occasion Chinese food and the booth selling Chinese gifts are always surrounded by people. There is a St. George College in Grenada, a college managed by Americans. Most students there are from Europe, America and the Caribbean region. There are also some Chinese descendants. They are very interested in China. I have once gone to the college to introduce China-the Caribbean relations at the invitation of the students. Compared with other Caribbean countries, there are not many overseas Chinese in Grenada as a result of the long distance between China and Grenada and little understanding of Chinese toward Grenada. When I was there, there were no more than 30 Chinese in Grenada. So the affairs concerning overseas Chinese and consular issues were comparatively limited. These people were mainly doing business, including running restaurants, supermarkets and department stores. Due to the limited market in Grenada, these businesses were generally in small scale with small investment. I remembered there was a door and window decoration store. People there came from different parts of China, like Guangdong, Shandong, Sichuan and Jiangsu despite of the small size of the store. I was once surprised to meet a girl from Beijing working in a restaurant. Since Grenada is of a small size, we could often come across each other and have more contacts. They were working very hard in Grenada owing to the small market and sluggish economy, plus the decreasing tourists, which altogether make the competition even more fierce. On occasions like National Day and Spring Festival, the Embassy would invite them to the Embassy to join other Chinese including those aid workers to enjoy time together. For us who were distant from our motherland, gathering like this was cherished by us all. China and Grenada signed visa exemption agreement this year, which will provide more convenience to people traveling between the two countries. I believe there will be more and more Chinese people traveling to Grenada in the future. Time flies. Two years passed swiftly. In February 2013, I received the notice to conclude my tenure. I began paying farewell visits to the Governor-General and cabinet ministers. Foreign Minister Steel held a farewell lunch for me. On March 12, I held a farewell reception at my residence. The Governor-General, prime minister, cabinet ministers and foreign diplomatic envoys were present. I thanked Grenadian government officials and people from all walks of life for their support and cooperation extended to me during my tenure. I told them that although my tenure was not long, the impression was deep in my mind, hoping the relations between the two countries could have further development in the future. On March 16, I set foot on the journey back to China and finished my life as ambassador to Grenada. (The author is CAFIU’s former Secretary-General and member of the Standing Committee of CAFIU Executive Council)