45 years of diplomatic relations between China and Mauritius

HE Mr. Li Li, Chinese ambassador to Mauritius, will leave the country next month at the end of his contract. He spent four years here. His departure coincides with the event marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Mauritius, which took place on April 15, 1972. 

April 15, 2017, marks the 45th year since the former Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and former Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai shared an official toast at a reception held in the hall of the People's Palace, at the National People's Congress in Beijing.

A few days after the simultaneous release of the joint official statement in Beijing and Port Louis, the first Chinese ambassador, Mr. Wang Ze, arrived on the island. However, it took 20 years before the Mauritian government decided to open a diplomatic mission in Beijing. Pending the arrival of our first ambassador to Beijing, Ms. Madeleine Lee, daughter of Sir Jean Etienne Moïlin Ah Chuen, a former Minister of the Republic, it was a senior official, Mr. Jahangheer, who assumed the post of Chargé d’Affaires. For two decades, it was the Mauritian ambassador in Islamabad, Pakistan, who oversaw the Chinese "desk".

Late Professor Wu Huang Xin, a prominent Mauritian oncologist, a friend of SSR and Zhou Enlai, played an important and decisive role in establishing diplomatic relations between Mauritius and the PRC. Indeed, he served as a link between the two Prime Ministers as long as he was close to both. Thereafter, the late Guillaume Ng Thow Hing, the owner of the Galerie Réunie Store, and the elder brother of Professor Wu Huang Xin, was the one who brokered the deal for the PRC to buy a property in Belle Rose to set up the Embassy.

In a portrait, I wrote on him on May 14, 2001 in Le Quotidien, entitled "Si la Galerie Réunie m'était contée" he told me this anecdote which is now part of the story: "I was present at this official reception and upon my return from this official visit to China, I was surprised to receive a personal letter from Mr. Zhou Enlai one morning, proposing me to be the broker to find a suitable building to house the new Embassy of the People's Republic of China. I approached Mr. de Maroussem, the owner of the building, located at the Royal Road, Belle Rose, and the building was purchased for Rs 1,5 million, notary fees included. In the study of Mr. Pierrot de Speville, a notary in Port Louis, and before the arrival of the first Ambassador M Wang Ze, I also acted as an intermediary with Mr. Deokhee Ramdharry to temporarily rent a floor of the Sunray building in Coromandel. Able to shelter in the meantime the Chinese consulat.”

Among the major events that have marked diplomatic relations between Beijing and Port Louis: in February 2009, the official visit of former Chinese President Mr. Hu Jinttao, and in February 2016, the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 

To recall, in September 1980, Mauritius welcomed the then Chinese Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ji Pengfei. The four former Prime Ministers of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Dr. Navin Ramgoolam and Mr. Paul Raymond Bérenger, each made at least one official visit to China during their tenure. So did former President of the Republic Mr. Cassam Uteem, in 1994.

To date, Mauritius has had four ambassadors in Beijing, besides Madeleine Lee, Setaye Lam Po Tang, Paul Reynolds Chong Leung and current incumbent Mr. André Lee Hon Chong.

The major events that marked ambassador’s Li Li's mandate include: the Confucius Institute, the opening of the Bank of China in Port Louis to offer a financial service to Chinese operators, the flight Inaugural of Air Mauritius in Guangzhou after the one in Shanghai, the completion of Bagatelle Dam, the inauguration of the new High Tech Cardiac Surgery Centre at Victoria Hospital, two major projects financed by Chinese capital, Project to conserve endemic species at Île aux Aigrettes, and finally, the strengthening of bilateral relations between Mauritius and the PRC with the visit in September 2016 by the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Wang Yi. Mauritius' priorities remain infrastructure, agriculture, SMEs and financial services.

The previous Chinese ambassadors to Mauritius were:

• M Wang Ze (September 1972 - January 1977)
• M. Wang Rujie (September 1977 - August 1982)
• M. Cheng Feng (September 1982 - November 1984)
• M. Chen Duan (March 1985 - May 1988)
• M. Shi Nailiang (July 1988 - May 1992)
• M. Yang Yihuai (July 1992 - April 1995)
• M. Zhang Aquan (June 1995 - August 1998)
• M. Xia Shou’an (September 1998 - June 2002)
• M. Wang Fuyuan (June 2002 - December 2003)
• M. Xu Mengshui (January 2004 - February 2006)
• M. Gao Yuchen (March 2006 - March 2009)
• Mme Bian Yanhua (April 2009 - April 2013)
• M. Li Li (May 2013 - May 2017).

By Roland Tsang Kwai Kew