The Right Hon. Prime MinisterBill English,

Hon. Mr.Andrew Little, leader of the Labor Party,

Hon. Minister Judith Collins,

Hon. Mayor Phil Goff,

Respected members of parliament,

Mr. Henry Ho, World TV CEO,

My dear Chinese compatriots,

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

Good Evening!

I am so delighted to be part of this great event together with old and new friends from all walks of life celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year of Rooster. The year of rooster reminds me of a Chinese idiom, "get up and do exercise upon hearing the crow of a rooster", which means inspiring people to work hard. In Chinese tradition and culture, Rooster stands for good luck and prosperity. At this happy and auspicious moment, I would like to, on behalf of the Consulate General of China in Auckland, send our warmest greetings and best wishes to all the friends present here today, for a very happy and prosperous New Year!

I also want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the government of NZ and Auckland, and friends from all walks of life for your strong support to strengthen the relations between our two countries and our two peoples, and for your support to the development of the Chinese communities in NZ.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud of the great achievements made in all area by the Chinese people last year. According to the latest figure, China's economic growth rate was around 6.7%, serving as the No. 1 engine and contributing 33.2% to world economic growth, despite the background of a sluggish global economy. A series of breakthroughs were made in science and technology innovation as well, including satellites and space station. Ten million people were lifted out of poverty. G20 Summit was successfully hosted in Hangzhou and One Belt One Road" Initiative was implemented smoothly. We have adhered to the peaceful development while resolutely safeguarding the territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests of China.

For China-New Zealand relations, 2016 was a year of harvest, with many highlights. China-NZ comprehensive strategic partnership has been strengthened with deeper political mutual trust and frequent high level exchanges of visits and dialogues. The bilateral relationship is in the best time of history.The cooperation and exchanges in various fields such as politics, economy, law enforcement, defense, education, culture, tourism, science and technology have been greatly enhanced. The scale and level of cooperation between China and our consular districts hit a new record. My consulate received more 70 ministerial-governor level delegations from China last year and each of them returned with tangible results of cooperation, particularly in areas of aviation connectivity. Direct flights between China's major cities and Auckland doubled, which greatly facilitate the communication of people to people exchanges. I believe a good and close relationship between China and NZ is not only in the interest of both countries and two peoples, but also beneficial to the Asia Pacific and the whole world.

Ladies and gentlemen,

2017 will be an important year for Chinaand for our bilateral relations. The Communist Party of China will convene its 19th national congress. In future, just as stated by President Xi Jinping last week in Davos, China's determination of maintaining world peace, promoting common development, building a cooperative partnership with outside world and supporting multilaterism will not change. China will continue to have structural reform by carrying out new development concept and will open the door wider to the outside world. President Xi also pointed out that China's development is the opportunity to the world. In the next five years, China will import eight trillion US dollars of goods, with outbound investment of 750 billion US dollars. China will attract 600 billion US dollars of investment from the outside world as well. China will have 700 million travelers venturing outside of China. China will work together with other countries to have win-win cooperation of mutual benefit and to build community of shared future for mankind.

2017 also marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-New Zealand diplomatic relationship, and will be a year faced with tremendous new opportunities in developing the cooperation between our two countries. In 2017, my consulate will continue to work hard, shoulder by shoulder with our friends from NZ to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries. We will continue to integrate the One Belt One Road Initiative with NZ's 30-year infrastructure development plan.We will continue to provide efficient quality consular services for our Chinese compatriots in the consular districts.It is hoped that our Chinese compatriots overseas will actively integrate into mainstream society of NZ, and maintain unity and continue to work for a better and stronger ties between our two countries and two peoples.

Let's joint hands together in building a better future for China, for NZ and for the bilateral relations and the world. Once again, I wish you all the best for a very healthy, happy, and prosperous new year of Rooster. Thank you!