GUEST POST: “If the government stands mouth agape, gawking at China while it takes over Malta, the Opposition and the independent media should not follow suit”

Sent in by Matthew S:

The reason why China gets away with anything it wants to is because everyone is wonder-struck with it. Everything about China is massive: its population, its geographical size, its army, its consumption, its pandas and, as Joseph Muscat likes to remind us, its economy (second largest in the world).

When faced with Chinese statistics, even China’s notoriously unreliable ones, it’s hard not to stand in awe. It’s like some perverse version of the Stendahl Syndrome.

This is bad for Malta, worse for our economy and absolutely horrid for democracy. If the government decides to stand mouth agape, gawking at China while it takes over Malta, the least we can expect is for the Opposition and the independent media not to follow suit.

Here’s my remedy: take a step back from China and cast your eyes at another top economy, Nigeria. Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa. It officially overtook South Africa a few months ago. And yet, nobody has any illusions about it.

Yes, its growth rate is impressive, its natural resources bountiful, Nollywood is fantastic, breweries are doing a roaring trade and investors are piling in – and yet, the majority of its people still live on less than $2 a day.

Basic infrastructure, like roads and electricity connections, is poor at best and still non-existent in many parts of Nigeria. Corruption is endemic and outside the region, the country is best known for crooks and internet scams. The government recently sacked the central bank governor for daring to reveal that millions of petrodollars had gone missing from the state’s coffers The number of the poor and the unemployed is actually growing.

Nigeria’s government is fighting an insurgency in the north and girls and women are being abducted at will. Human rights are often violated and Nigeria’s gays are only slightly better off than Uganda’s.

Incidentally, in April, Malta signed a repatriation agreement with Nigeria. This was given very few column inches. Why? Are Nigeria’s homosexuals less worthy of protection than Malta’s? And why are we sending people back to what is effectively a war zone? How is the government of Malta going to guarantee these vulnerable people’s safety?

This is the reality of a top-ranked economy and nobody is trying to pretend otherwise. Although there is growing interest in Nigeria, investors are cautious. And far from the nicer parts of Abuja, Nigerians, especially those living in shanty-towns, often feel that there is no trickle-down effect by the wealth generated. The news that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa probably comes as an insult to them.

And despite all this, I would much rather deal with Nigeria than China. At least they have a well-functioning (by African standards) democracy.

You see, there is more to society than just a wish to be a top economy. The human condition is not at all improved by skyscraper cities and bling-construction projects which nobody but the extremely wealthy and corrupt can afford.

The reason why Europe managed to make it through a massive financial meltdown relatively intact is because it has robust institutions, a healthy democracy, an outspoken press, the rule of law and good communication systems.

The reason why so many northern African states fell is because a dictator’s only thread of legitimacy comes from keeping the economy chugging along.

Once that fails, everything else comes crashing down with it. There’s no point in being servile to a government which thwarts your freedom as well as your livelihood.

This is China’s biggest Achilles heel. In spite of its massive security system, all it might take to bring the whole Communist edifice crashing down is one humongous recession. This is why the Chinese government gets into a funk every time growth nears the single digits. It knows that its legitimacy is derived only from keeping the good times rolling.

Foreign countries become dependent on Chinese aid at their own peril.

If the Bamboo Curtain ever follows the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall – and why shouldn’t it; you can only restrict freedom for so long – in coming down completely, it will be the Chinese leaders’ turn to stand in awe as a billion Chinese, and hopefully the rest of the free world, come raining down on Beijing demanding what is rightfully theirs and what has been denied to them for so long.