“The Labour Party considers China a crucial strategic partner for our country and looks forward to strengthening the relationship between the two countries in the years ahead.” – Joseph Muscat, last August
Reported by Labour Party website Maltastar, 28 August 2012:
“The Labour Party considers China a crucial strategic partner for our country and looks forward to strengthening the relationship between the two countries in the years ahead.”
Labour Leader Joseph Muscat said this during a meeting he had with a Chinese delegation led by the Deputy Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee Liu Jieyi at Ħamrun.
Dr Muscat said that Malta is committed to make the best it can of its European Union membership but Malta wants to give an international dimension to this commitment.
“That is we believe in strong relations with other countries like China, the United States and Russia.”
Muscat said that three years ago he had positive talks in Beijing with the International department and said that the Labour Party pioneered relations with China 40 years ago.
(…)
Also present for the meeting there was International Secretary of the Labour Party Dr Alex Sceberras Trigona, Main spokesman for Foreign Affairs Dr George Vella, Labour Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Anglu Farrugia and Deputy Leader for Party Affairs Dr Toni Abela.
Karmenu Vella and Alex Sceberras Trigona on an official visit to China when China was an international pariah, in 1972. FORTY-ONE YEARS LATER, Mintoff is dead but Vella and Sceberras Trigona are presenting themselves as the future of Malta. One is writing Labour electoral programme, the other is shaping Labour’s foreign policy.
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http://maltastar.com/dart/20120827-muscat-china-crucial-strategic-partner-for-malta
http://www.di-ve.com/news/china-important-strategic-partner-malta-%E2%80%93-pl
Now if you never bought any heavy plant from China, you will obviously think that China could be a strategic partner. But if any part of the proposed gas storage, gas pipeline or similar is actually acquired from China we know we will be sitting on a bomb.
China is trying hard to acquire assets in the Mediterranean. It tried in Libya, where they limited them to construction projects and kept them dangling about any other kind of projects, because how much ever we try and pass our neighbors as being non sapient with regards to certain matters, they only look towards Germany, US, Britain and France for infrastructural installs.
In our case the previous experience of the China dock (from the Mintoff days) should give us a good insight. There is no machinery in the China dock which is worth its weight in metal. So should we be looking at infrastructural work with China at the expense of future generations?
If Labour is looking at China as a possible partner for our power generation story, then it is understandable that it could be done in two years but we ought to consider this as an ultra high risk install both as an infrastructural project and the well being of the population in general.
Muscat, what are you thinking.
He doesn’t.
He just blabbers the nonsense thrown at him from the teleprompter.
The following illustrates current Chinese technological safety standards.
European and US Federal safety legislation are considered the main obstacle to trade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_1PZjDEe4
I’m perplexed as to why this quote should be used for “gotcha” purposes. Every single country in the European Union is trying to strengthen its relationship with China and it would be irresponsible for any Maltese political leader to affirm, much less propose, that Malta not do so.
[Daphne – Events must be placed in context, Le Jacobin. In this case the context is the political history, which is turning out to be the present, of the Labour Party and its current incumbents.]
“Dr Muscat said that Malta is committed to make the best it can of its European Union membership”
Says as much about Chairman Joseph’s attitude to the EU as it does about Matlatsar’s quality assurance.
‘We’ll make the best of it’. Something bad that you will bravely live with or through, like a permanent limp or an approaching hurricane.
Once again, thanks for this intuitive piece. We can now look at the Labour proposal from another perspective and everything starts to fall into place.
That’s why it will be built in two years. The (Labour) govt. will take care of the MEPA permits and assessments here and the Chinese will ensure to build it in record time.
That’s how (and why) Joseph said we will supersede our traditional mediocrity in infrastructural projects.
That can be the reason why then Mizzi and Muscat are so sure there will be private companies who will fork out the 370m euro upfront investment.
That also explains why they are so sure they’ll get a 10-year guaranteed price for the gas.
That’s where all the money could be coming from. China has a huge surplus of balance of payments and they are continuously looking for new avenues to increase their international political and commercial presence.
It’s interesting to see where all this will lead to.
If it’s a Chinese power plant, then no wonder Joseph Muscat states that it will be completed within two years. We will have hundreds, possibly thousands of Chinese workers in Malta working round the clock to finish the project.
For once I will have to believe him that the project will actually be completed on time and within such a restricted budget.
I would pity the Chinese workers with their working conditions – addio “precarious work”.
Reminds me of the time they were building the Red China Dock.
Hundreds or thousands? Millions or billions, if need be.
Mela nsejt li Joseph will go if the project is not completed?