Dear Editor,
I wish to state openly that I am a great respecter of the Chinese people and of China. The Chinese historically have been great traders, scientists, architects, philosophers, educators, builders, inventors and so much more. I had the golden opportunity to visit China twice and was amazed at the old and new China. Greatness has to come from the heart of the people. They are extremely hospitable and ever dynamic.
They have always been generous towards other countries in terms of human development, medicine and general aid, and are known to be great warriors, in most cases against invading armies. I believe that China will be a great world superpower and that this era belongs to the Chinese. I see India as the next, then Brazil. Now please note the following:
1. I was quite shocked to see the extent of their love for smoking cigarettes. I believe a time will come when there will be a great epidemic of smoking related diseases in China. I am quite surprised that the Chinese government does not mount a large-scale education campaign targeting smoking. I advise it to address this issue for their country and people’s sake.
2. I advise our government to be careful in that the Chinese, owing to the size of their population, are extremely aggressive, and while humane, have enormous needs to satisfy. They have massive hunger for raw products and resources to feed their industries and ambition.
It is said that the Government of Guyana is considering providing a fishing licence to a Chinese company. It is one I disagree with. The government is saying the licence is for the fishing of certain species of fish that we do not use. It will be impossible to monitor their factory ships where there is large-scale harvesting, and maybe there will be devastation of the marine creatures in the ocean, as it is known that the Chinese eat virtually anything that walks, swims, floats or crawls. I can actually imagine their ships scooping all living creatures floating and swimming in the ocean and even resting on the sea bed, and then processing them by freezing. The filth and waste are always dumped in the ocean.
They will take the ones we usually use and the ones we do not. They have already proved that they cannot be trusted to keep their word, nor follow protocols which have been established. I do not mean that they are bad people, but just that they have such an enormous need on account of their population and constant growth. In the end the licence fees will do little or nothing for us. We must protect our resources for our future population, and if anything, encourage the Chinese to open up factories in Guyana for the processing of products, not for the exporting of our raw materials, be they fish, meat, farm produce, logs, whatever. Let embark on value-added here.
The Government of Guyana has to be very careful; while we are in need of finance, and international friendship and support, we cannot fritter away our resources. We have ourselves to think of and our future generations. If the government of the day wastes our resources, they will be cursed by generations to come.
As for Bai Shan Lin and its logging practices, did anyone expect anything else, and that they would not try to flout the rules. It is done for two things basically: firstly profit, which is important to corporations, moreso international ones. They care little for our future and our rainforest, our dear Amazon, which is the last lung of the earth.
They wish to satisfy their need for profit, and their need for wood products in construction and various industries. I can just see in a few years, huge swathes of the rainforest scarred, even wiped out as, in Indonesia and Malaysia. Secondly, they are looking after their own interest, and care mostly for that, although they provide some services, aid and loans to help the nations whose resources are depleted. If the government cannot put mechanisms and in place to control them, then the combined opposition has to do it, and I will encourage them, even support them. Chinese companies will always find ways to circumvent the laws.
I repeat that I have nothing against the Chinese people, as they are looking out for themselves, and they are right. But we must do likewise.
I have no complaints about their business acumen, investment potential and opportunities, as they see opportunities in areas and things many Guyanese or Caribbean people tend to frown on. I respect them for this. The discipline and dedication in their business should be sources of inspiration to us.
I am again warning the Government of Guyana, and I can warn them, as they are my government, and hence, the servants of the people of Guyana who voted in Guyana.
Do not waste our resources on people who have enormous appetites for resources which we need for many generations to come! I advise them also, that not all who counsel are against them. It is also prudent to listen to your enemies at times. If they consider the combined opposition their enemies, still listen to what they say, as they could bring up important matters for the sake of state and the people. They tend to see things from the other angle, the other side. Not everything they say will be wrong. The opposition’s watchful eyes could be great watch posts.
The leaders of the Chinese should advise them to stay within the law at all times and counsel them to respect Guyanese, while being alert to the devious ones. But most important, since they have no respect for protocols such as contracts for service even if they signed on to them locally, the need for this has to be inculcated into their mentality.
So while I welcome the Chinese people, I warn against the Chinese companies, which could drain our nation of its resources.
Yours faithfully,
Roshan Khan