On 5th February, Brunei’s newspaper Borneo Bulletin, United Daily, Sin Chew Daily and See Hua Daily published the article entitled Utilizing the Belt and Road Initiative as a Practical Platform to Jointly Advance the China-Brunei Community with A Shared Future by H. E. Mr. Xiao Jianguo, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Brunei Darussalam. The full text is as follows:

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 civilizations, 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. In 2013, 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 respectively, to promote the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with "Wawasan Brunei 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, build a solid political foundation based on friendship and mutual trust. China and Brunei are close neighbors across the sea, mutually trustworthy friends as well as partners for common development, setting an good example of equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between large and small countries. President Xi Jinping and His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah have been maintaining a good working relationship through frequent interactions. In 2018, President Xi Jinping made a successful state visit to Brunei. In 2019, His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, during which His Majesty met with President Xi. In 2022 and 2023, the two leaders met with each other 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.

Bridged with 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 US$1.936 billion in 2014 to US$2.805 billion in 2023, with an increase of about 45%. Brunei's exports to China surged from US$190 million in 2014 to US$1.947 billion in 2023, a cumulative increase of nearly 9 folds. 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.

Symbolized by 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 industrialization, promoting the transformation of Brunei's economic structure, assisting in its economic diversification, and driving about 10% of the Nation’s GDP. 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.

Bonded by cultural exchanges, deepen the mutual understanding and closeness between the people. The past few years has seen frequent exchanges between the two sides in various fields, thus the emotional bond between our peoples has been increasingly strengthened. By running joint training programs with local universities, Hengyi Petrochemical helps to train local petrochemical professionals. People from all walks of life in Brunei have been visiting China, participating in various technical training to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. In recent years, the Chinese Embassy in Brunei has also held various 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, so as to navigate the two countries towards the goal of a China-Brunei community of shared future.