Dear Editor,
Permit me to respectfully offer a response to the aforementioned articles featured in a certain section of the print media during the period February 23 – 25, 2017. It is unfortunate that I have to regrettably describe the contents therein, as an irresponsible piece of journalism thereby lacking professional journalistic objectivity which is premised substantially on an assumption basis. Professional journalism ought to be centred upon substantive facts especially those which are investigative in nature. I cannot agree more with the response published by the Chinese Embassy in their defence that the accusations made are unsubstantiated and that they may pursue legal action. I would say this is the correct and appropriate course of action on this matter by the Chinese Embassy, in fact I would even suggest they seriously pursue legal action. To this end, I read the articles with interest and could not find any evidence cited and hence, my position on this matter. Guyana & China Diplomatic relations was established since 1972, and the two countries have enjoyed extremely cordial and fruitful friendship.
China has emerged quite rapidly as one of the World’s most powerful countries in which the country has made dramatic advances economically and industrially to have attained its current global dominance and power today. The country has even come so far to a point where it is viewed as a threat to the United States of America (USA) in terms of superseding that country to become the number one most powerful country in the world. In this regard, many economists across the globe, including the World Economic Forum are suggesting or predicting rather, that in the next decade or so, this may very well become the reality of the world given the pace at which China is advancing. This notion is further heightened against the fact that for the past few years China has been fighting inflexibly and tirelessly to have their currency become a global currency alongside the US dollar.
For many years, Guyana has benefited tremendously from China in more ways than one. China has provided invaluable assistance to Guyana’s health care system including highly skilled specialists in various fields of medicine and dispatching of regular medical brigades (Guyana Chronicle, 2010.12.15). In addition China has also provided assistance to Guyana’s agriculture sector as well as infrastructure such as “Guyana International Conference Centre Liliendaal”. During 2010 Guyana benefited from a US$8M grant for projects in the social sector (Guyana Chronicle, 2010.12.15). These are just a few examples cited to substantiate my contention. Overall Guyana has received both technical and financial aids spanning all the various economic sectors.
The highly perceived notion that the world is seemingly heading to be led by China in the future is even more critical at this time for a third world developing country like Guyana to maintain and strengthen our diplomatic relation with China. That being said, dealing with the matter at hand as regards the accusation made towards the Chinese Embassy, and the argument put forward by some that the Chinese businesses are making local businesses less competitive, has absolutely nothing to do with the Chinese much less the Chinese Embassy.
Most obviously the Chinese import their goods directly from China and being a country which is known to be a ‘cheap labour’ country and the largest producer of goods and services in the world, it is therefore quite logical that goods emanating from this country directly will be far more competitive. It is noteworthy to mention too that most of the goods branded in the U.S by Multinational U.S companies are in fact manufactured in China for this very reason. Local businesses on the other hand, most of them purchase their goods from the U.S directly which will therefore be less competitive against the Chinese goods.
With respect to the claims of fraud by Customs / GRA, whereby it is claimed that Chinese containers are not checked, an investigation need to be launched within the Customs body and / GRA to ascertain what are the reasons. It could be a matter of procedural loopholes or there could very well be genuine and legitimate reasons. Unless a deeper investigation is launched and concrete evidence emerged, then such an outrageous and baseless allegation should not be made in the public domain against the Chinese Embassy. As a consequence this could potentially harm the Diplomatic relations between the two countries, a dimension which should be avoided at all cost.
Again, in this regard I will refer to China / United States diplomatic relation as an example. The U.S and China don’t always see ‘eye to eye’ on international trade agreements between the two countries, yet they have to find satisfaction in compromising. Apart from this, the U.S leader needs to be ever so careful in his dealings with the Chinese government because despite they often disagree on trade policies; many multinational U.S companies such as Apple Inc., have large operations in China. Due to this, these companies make substantial profits (measured in Billions of U.S dollars) which are shipped right back into the U.S economy. This in turn, means that these companies are able to inject a portion of these profits in their domestic economy which then contributes to the annual GDP of that country. It is for this principal reason all the past U.S presidents and the current and future presidents need to be especially careful in their dealings with China. Of note too, China even funds a large chunk of the U.S government spending.
Within these respects, much similarities can be found as regards Guyana / China diplomatic relations which I outlined earlier in some amount of detail. Thus in my closing remarks I would like to reiterate that it is paramount that media operatives be extremely cautious when dealing with matters of this nature to avoid any profound damage between Guyana and its international alliances as well as foreign investors. Such an outcome could have severe adverse consequences in relation to our country’s economic progress and goodwill.
Regards,
Concerned Citizen