Greetings from the Ambassador 

I welcome you, on behalf of myself and my colleagues at the Embassy of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Beijing, to this website where you will experience a little taste of our beautiful country, and be provided with information on various aspects of the people, history and culture, as well as on the touristic attractions and investment opportunities. 

It was on the 23rd of May, 1997 that diplomatic relations were established between the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the People’s Republic of China, marking the adherence of The Bahamas to the One-China Principle. The Bahamas opened its Embassy in Beijing in 2006 and appointed its first resident Ambassador two years later, in 2008. Over the years, The Bahamas and China have undertaken joint cooperative activities that span the gamut and include technical assistance and investment projects, scholarships for students to study in China at the tertiary level, as well as people-to-people exchanges. The Bahamas and China share cordial relations that have continued to strengthen and grow over the years. 

The Bahamas marked its Jubilee Year on 10 July, 2023, when it celebrated its 50th Anniversary of Independence. It was also during this landmark year that the Embassy in Beijing presented an Exhibit entitled “A Retrospective on the Chinese Diaspora in The Bahamas”, which traced the decades-long connection between The Bahamas and China through the latter’s diaspora and displayed incontrovertibly that Chinese Bahamians are firmly entrenched as an integral part of Bahamian society, adding richly to its development, diversity, culture and history. The Year 2023 also saw the relocation of The Bahamas Embassy in Beijing to larger premises, which was deeply symbolic of the expanding relations between the two countries. 

We hope that you will enjoy surfing the pages of this website which provides information on investment opportunities and also beckons you to visit the beautiful islands of The Bahamas, replete with white sandy beaches surrounded by crystalline ocean waters in every shade of green and blue. 

We welcome you warmly to our country, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. 

Paulette Bethel 

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

H.E. Ms. Paulette Bethel, Ph.D. Biography 

H.E. Ms. Paulette Bethel took up her post as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the People’s Republic of China in September, 2022. 

Ambassador Bethel is a seasoned diplomat and consummate professional with many years of experience at the national, regional and international levels in senior diplomatic, managerial and advisory capacities, utilizing her substantial expertise in international affairs, negotiation, conflict resolution, multicultural exchange, strategic planning, research and policy formulation and analysis. Her vast and collaborative experience in the international arena is complemented by considerable experience in the private sector and in academia. She is a global citizen with a wide range of experience as a diplomat, international civil servant, negotiator, manager and educator. 

During her earlier years of employment, Ambassador Bethel lectured in Sociology at the College of The Bahamas (COB) – now the University of the Bahamas (UB) – where she also assumed the Chair of the Department of Social Sciences. She began her career in international affairs as an employee of the United Nations, posted to Vienna, Austria. She later joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas and served as a senior diplomat at the United Nations in New York, the Embassy in Washington D.C., and at the Organization of American States (OAS). 

In 2003, Ambassador Bethel was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Nations. She was the first woman Ambassador of The Bahamas to the United Nations, a post that she held for ten years. She then went on to hold senior positions at the United Nations itself, first as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 68th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and then as Special Advisor to the President of the 70th UNGA. Subsequently, Ambassador Bethel was engaged as a Special Advisor on Multilateral Affairs, in the private sector, addressing issues related to agriculture development, food security and health, in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She also served as National Coordinator for the 50 th Session of the General Assembly of the OAS, which The Bahamas had been scheduled to host in June, 2020.

Ambassador Bethel received her doctorate (PhD) degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and obtained her Master of Arts (MA) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees from Howard University and the University of Toronto, respectively.