Nanjing, Bandar Seri Begawan to become sister cities

CHINA's Nanjing city is set to become Bandar Seri Begawan's (BSB) first sister city come November 21 during the visit of China Premier Wen Jiabao to the Sultanate.

The China Premier is scheduled to visit Brunei on Nov 20-21, and on the second day of his visit, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed between the two cities under the witness of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Wen.

The Nanjing Foreign Affairs Office confirmed yesterday that Nanjing Mayor Ji Jianye will be present in Brunei to represent Nanjing in the signing of the Sister City Relationship MoU.

According to a statement from the office to The Brunei Times, Nanjing is very glad to be establishing a sister city relationship with BSB, and hopes that the MoU will propel relationship between the two cities to another level.

The Nanjing government anticipates that with the signing of the MoU, it will enable the city to expand its economic potential in Southeast Asia, and also expects both cities to conduct frequent exchanges in cultural and tourism activities.

The statement also added that with Brunei being the third largest oil exporter in Southeast Asia, and the fourth largest natural gas exporter in the world, Nanjing's link with BSB will also be beneficial in the further development of Nanjing's petro-chemical industry.

According to the statement, it was during Her Royal Highness Princess Hjh Masna's visit to Nanjing in 2008 that HRH first mooted the idea of a sister city relationship between Nanjing and BSB to Nanjing officials.

Nanjing, the capital city of China's Jiangsu Province, is a key Chinese city about an hour away (315km) from Shanghai by train, and has a strong prominence in the history of China, being the capital city of six ancient Chinese dynasties from 221 to 589 ACE (after common era).

The Chinese words of Nanjing stand for "southern capital", as opposed to Beijing, the "northern capital".

The city, covering an area of 6,600 square kilometers, has a population of eight million, a GDP of approximately US$80 billion, and is known as one of the four great ancient capitals of China together with Beijing, Xi'an, and Luoyang.

Nanjing has long been a Chinese national centre for education, research, transport networks, and tourism, and is the second largest commercial centre in the East China region after Shanghai. The city will also be hosting the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.

The key industries of the city are petrochemical, automobile, iron and steel, and other strongly emerging industries are wind power, solar power, and rail transport.

Historical links between Brunei and China go back more than 1,000 years.

According to Rozan Yunos' article published in The Brunei Times on March 29, 2009, it was in November 1405 when the King of Brunei, Maharaja Karna (Sultan Abdul Majid Hassan), sent people to pay tribute to China.

Brunei around that time had just thrown off being under the Majapahit rule. It was in 1408, when the Sultan decided to visit China together with a delegation of 150 people including his wife, brothers, sons and accompanying officials.

Unfortunately he died over there, and he was buried in Nanjing. His burial site is now one of Nanjing's parks and is very well looked after.

The China-Brunei Friendship Hall in Nanjing was completed in 2006, and was inaugurated by HRH Princess Hjh Masna in the same year.

In 2008, HRH also attended the unveiling of the Brunei Heritage Garden in Nanjing, and then officiated at the opening of the Brunei Water Courtyard in the garden. The mausoleum, the heritage garden, and the hall have all become famous tourist attractions in Nanjing. The Brunei Times