The ABCF is launching an initiative to build a network of information and support for companies and individuals who are involved in sourcing, trading, providing trade information, making contacts, or any other aspect of commerce with China. The initiative will be launched at a hybrid seminar to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the ABCF and the Yiwu Municipal People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries of Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, China. Yiwu (Yiwu International Trade City (义乌国际商贸城) ) is reputed to be the world's largest wholesale market for small consumer items. The seminar will be held by Zoom on Monday February 9, 9:00pm Barbados Time (February 10, 9:00am in Beijing) for one hour. The Zoom meeting ID will be provided in a subsequent announcement. Along with the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, there will be addresses by the President of the ABCF, the Deputy Mayor of Yiwu City and other officials, and video presentations on Yiwu City.
If you are involved in any way in commerce with China or are considering trading with China, we invite you to join us online on February 9. Also, please write to us at ABCF-BB Association or at the ABCF WhatsApp number, +1 (246) 288-1356 indicating your name, the name of your company, your email, your phone, and the kind of business in which you are engaged, so that we may inform you of follow-up activities from this and other initiatives that may be of interest to you.
CCG in media spotlight as Starmer visits China
Henry Huiyao Wang, President, Center for China and Globalization
Yes, I think the Prime Minister Starmer’s visit to China has signalled a huge turning of the page. Also, given the beginning of this year, we see an enormous transformation going on in the world. So it’s no longer China versus the West or the West versus China. Countries have to follow their own merits, their own economic benefit and also overall interests. So I think you see a parade of Western leaders coming to China. We had a French President, Macron, and we had the Canadian Prime Minister, David Carney. And of course, with the Finnish Prime Minister still in town. And now we are having the Prime Minister Starmer coming here. This is great.
Off the Beaten Path: Braised Intestines and Stone Lions in Shishi City
While visiting Xiamen in July 2025, I grabbed an opportunity drive up to Shishi City for an afternoon. Shishi is a small Fujian coastal city, mainly known for its large garments industry - with huge business in both production and distribution. But I had a different reason for my visit: I saw it on a map and thought it had a funny name.
As China’s two largest cities by economic output, Beijing and Shanghai are widely seen as barometers for the country’s broader economic performance.
In 2025, Beijing’s gross domestic product reached 5.2 trillion yuan (US$748 billion), making it the second Chinese city to cross the 5-trillion-yuan mark after Shanghai, which breached the threshold in 2024 and did so again in 2025 with a GDP of 5.67 trillion yuan. Based on last year’s figures, each city’s economic size is comparable to that of a smaller European country, such as Sweden or Belgium.
China is expected to finish construction on the landmark Pinglu Canal before the end of this year, taking just four years to complete the 72.7 billion yuan (US$10.4 billion) project to boost trade links with the country’s top export destination: Southeast Asia.
The mega-project will provide China’s landlocked southwestern provinces with direct access to global shipping lanes, making it faster and cheaper to transport goods between the Chinese interior and neighbouring countries.
The 134km (83 mile) waterway linking Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with the Gulf of Tonkin – known in China as the Beibu Gulf – via the Qin River is the first major canal China has built for centuries.
This weekly newsletter is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Visit us at Association for Barbados China Friendship | (abcf-bb.com).
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions for this week’s Update. Please send items of interest to me via the contact page at ABCF-BB.com or to info@DeLisleWorrell.com
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
