13 February 2019, Apia Samoa. His Excellency Wang Xuefeng, the People’s Republic of China’s outgoing Ambassador to Samoa could not hold back his emotions during his farewell speech before guests from Samoa and China. His Excellency had to stop for almost a minute to regroup his emotions, as he delivered his speech with tears at a farewell dinner at the embassy on Friday evening.
After almost three and a half years, Ambassador Wang is the longest serving Chinese ambassador since the establishment of the Chinese consulate in Samoa.
The following is an extract from his remarks to celebrate the 2019 Chinese New Year Reception and to bid farewell to his Samoan friends and family.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As you may have all noticed that tonight, it is a two-in-one reception. We have invited both our Samoan friends and Chinese compatriots not only to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but also to my farewell party. I came to Samoa with my wife in September, 2015, and now nearly three and half years seem to have passed by in a blink.
At the time when I am going to bid farewell to Samoa, I look back on the past three and half years with honor and pride. As Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Independent State of Samoa, I have been making utmost effort together with my colleagues to strengthen the long-standing friendly relations between China and Samoa, which is my ultimate duty. It has been my honor that I could carry on the excellent job of all my predecessors to represent the People’s Republic of China in the Independent State of Samoa and it is with great pride to see China-Samoa ties making remarkable strides, with substantial achievements in politics, economic and trade, culture and education, tourism, information technology, agriculture and fisheries, capacity building and people-to-people links, etc.
However, I am keenly aware that all these achievements would have not been made possible without the all-round strong support and joint efforts from the Samoan side. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest appreciations to Your Highness the Head of State, Your Honorable Prime Minister, all the Honorable Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, all the civil servants in various departments as well as all the friends in various sector. Thank you very much for your invaluable support to the exchanges and cooperation between our two countries. You all have been the great driving force for the development of China-Samoa friendly relations.
At the time when I am going to bid farewell to Samoa, I also look back on the past three and half years with fond feelings and beautiful memories. I understand that in my capacity as the Chinese Ambassador to Samoa, I am also the envoy of friendship of Chinese people to Samoan people.
Both my wife and I have been so happy for being able to become friends to many Samoan people. We are even more fortunate and overwhelmed by some of our great Samoan friends who kindly treat us just like their family members.
In fact, two months ago, we already knew that we would leave Samoa for good, but it’s been hard for us to break the news to many of our dear Samoan friends earlier, and it is as hard for us say goodbye to beautiful Samoa. We couldn’t help recalling all the beautiful memories during our over three years’ stay in Samoa — the broad and sunny smiles and cheerful greetings of “Nihao” in Chinese from Samoan people when we drove on the roads on both the islands of Upolu and Savaii; the pure sincerity and the warmth of friendship extended to us though their beautiful dancing and singing or even just the bright smiles of many villagers, young and old, men and women, that touched our hearts when we had the opportunities to reach out to them with any help and assistance that we have been capable of; the delightful talks and hearty laughs and pleasant companies that we had enjoyed and shared with our Samoan friends from all walks of life as well as our colleagues from diplomatic corps and international and regional organizations at various functions and gatherings all year round.
Therefore, I would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest appreciations to all the friends that we have met in Samoa for everything you have done to make us stay in Samoa a most beautiful and precious part of our life. “All good things will come to an end”, like what people usually say. What we can do is to bear all the beautiful things in our mind and remember all dear friends in our hearts.
Last but not least, I wish to thank all my colleagues at the Chinese Embassy who have been working with me in all our continuous endeavors in strengthening China-Samoa friendship so as to bring more and more tangible benefits to the peoples of our two countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, all my dear friends,
“Long distance separates no bosom friends”. I hope our paths will cross again in the future and look forward to meeting with you soon no matter where.”
