No wonder the Taghna Lkollers are so comfortable with China
Published:
July 13, 2014 at 1:17am
They’re probably really jealous of the Chinese communist totalitarian dictatorship for being able to oppress its critics in this way without fear of being voted out in the next election. Hang on a minute…
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28052094
Daphne, a couple of days ago I posted here a comment with a link to China Daily, an online Chinese newspaper.
The link related to a video whose thumbnail showed a beaming Joseph Muscat. The video contained an interview of about 13 minutes in English by a China Daily junior reporter with Joseph Muscat.
My comment was posted here:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/07/china-puts-prominent-writers-under-house-arrest-as-us-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-visits/
A comment by La Redoute points out that the link to the video is not working.
When I clicked on the dead link, the internet explorer tries to link to “China and Malta to sign MOU.”
When I googled “China and Malta to sign MOU,” Google does find the link to China Daily, including the same video number, but it shows a different (unrelated) thumbnail and the link will not work.
I hope I am wrong, but I think that we have here the first consequence of the MOU signed in China by Joseph Muscat: blocking and control of information on the internet. Cooperation between the two governments to block access to information that may be harmful to them. China is known for this type of behaviour – this is documented by many international news and human rights agencies.
This visit in China has been one hell of a controlled media propaganda exercise, including the media houses which travelled to China being selected discriminately by the Office of the Prime Minister.
I think that the free media in Malta – which must be the media not selected to travel to China – should ask the Office of the Prime Minister – or the Ambassador of China – to obtain from China Daily an explanation of what happened with the video of the interview with Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – evidence of which is still on the internet. They should be told that it is an insult to Malta and the Maltese that an interview with their Prime Minister is blocked or removed from the internet in Malta and that as their “friends and partners in the EU,” we do not like these type of games with our freedoms.
Shame on those who blocked or removed this material. They do not deserve to be friends of EU countries.
On the same understanding, this case would highlight and bring home to Malta why it is dangerous that the state controls the media and the internet.
China Daily is controlled by the Chinese communist government.
It would also highlight why democratic governments should stay at a safe distance from corrupt, despotic and dictatorial governments.
Where does this leave the Maltese government on the matter below?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140509/local/PN-files-motion-on-four-digital-rights.518240
China Daily is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and is the English-language version of the official party newspaper.
I quote from the weekend print edition of China Daily:
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said his country is an important part of the ‘New Silk Road’ that binds the Mediterranean with the mainland.
The island nation has launched ventures with China in areas including renewable energy companies to harness wind and solar power.
“We hope the joint effort with other countries along the (New Silk) Road will bring us more trade as well as stimulating the green economy to tackle climate change,” (Muscat) said.
This explains last week’s reports that the renewable energy sector had ground to a halt in Malta since the general election. Now we know why.
It is now abundantly clear that any one or any thing that was not part of Muscat’s original MOU with China might as well switch the lights off and go away – because you are not included.
Why did renewable energy grind to a halt? Because government is promising cheap electricity with its propaganda. People perceive that it’s not worth it now.
Also, this government is unwilling to honour a contract which was signed a year ago with Alberta Ltd for the provision of PV panels on public buildings. People are waiting for the outcome.
They destroyed the cluster overnight, sales down over 40%.
The PN has to understand what Labour’s doing to an economy geared to SME’s. From installers working to JIT orders pouring in to pure R&D micro-enterprises working, indeed shaping, a vision.
And no surprise most smart monitoring, control and net based companies have registered a lull either.
Same old, Labour misses the wood for the trees. All he’s been obsessed with is stimulating internal demand for property, everything else kept waiting.
Production downturn out of control and constant over three quarters, that’s structural and blatantly the result of the wrong decisions.
Import export deficit spiked, both spiralling downwards. Call it a silent depression.
Muscat definitely sold Malta’s structural funds for growth, confirmed by the latest record; a miserable two applications for Horizon 2020.
How sick is it that he just has to keep treating us to titbits, lest he gives the game away, and expect the market to respond, to accelerate growth?
Even the property market’s dead beyond any economist arguing to the contrary. The crux in operators’ flat refusal to produce an analysis based on numbers and facts. They prefer leaving it to an editorial.
There are no independent media in China. All are state owned or controlled.
China employs an army of web watchers to police the internet.
http://www.newschinamag.com/magazine/web-watchers
Journalists who ask awkward questions are expelled.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-17986447
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/29/china-expels-us-reporter-austin-ramzy/5005889/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/05/china-threatens-to-expel-journalists/?__federated=1
Just ask them for a copy of the interview and show everyone what they are.
I am convinced that in the China Daily ‘Big Talk’ video which is no longer accessible, Joseph Muscat told the China Daily reporter that the Memorandum of Understanding was an initiative of the Chinese President (or maybe Premier).
I seem to recall that a similar statement was made by China and reported in the press there, but cannot now find the reference.
All of China Daily’s videos are blocked. All you can see are the thumbnails, titles and descriptions. The videos themselves are inaccessible.
I noticed during the day that there are problems with some other videos. However, the thumbnails seem to be accurate.
The China Daily interview with Joseph Muscat, together with a short article, have the following link:
http://video.chinadaily.com.cn/2014/0709/3435.shtml
If one insists with the link, the internet will bring up the text of the piece, but not the video.
The item was entitled “China and Malta to Sign MOU” by Cong Ruiting, updated on 9 July 2014.
The short article reads as follows:
“China and Malta share the same interests and such a sound relationship should be pushed further to a new level.” Visiting Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said to China Daily during an exclusive interview during his 3-day visit in Beijing.
The purpose of the visit is to sign a 5-year memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government. It will be the longest ever agreement signed with a European Union member state, according to government sources.
The Maltese delegation includes deputy prime minister Louis Grech and the PM’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.”
In attempt to restore harmony, I offer to you this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy88Sxxce_4
A memorandum of understanding is a non-binding document which is not worth the paper it is written on.
It is used a lot in Asia but is not legally binding. When I was in the Far East, companies as well as governments proposed MOUs on a regular basis. Rarely did they lead to a firm negotiation let alone a legally binding document.
If the Maltese government hopes to make lots of business out of this memorandum, they are in for a surprise.
There could be other surprises, too. The Chinese are perfectly capable of calling in certain favours on the basis of that memorandum of understanding, using pressure on the Maltese government by holding out that carrot of favours they can do in return, even when this is to the detriment of Malta.
And when things are to Malta’s advantage, but of no interest to China, the Chinese will not react. Waving a piece of paper in their face, reminding them of their moral obligations, won’t lead anywhere. China does not know the rule of law and it is a not a democracy. Its dictatorship is accountable to nobody.
Beware of dealings with China. You will be surprised how few the concrete deals are. Doing a “deal” with China in such a seemingly short time span makes it just all the more suspicious. The smell of corruption cannot be excluded.
Nothing exemplifies your argument like the three Gorges dam. The only energy it managed to unleash was that in surrounding tectonic plates.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/dismantle-the-three-gorges-dam-expert-says-57000.html
Displacing 1.4 million, the result was a total removal of any fresh groundwater supply to China’s essential harvest in case rain didn’t replenish those provinces.
Throw in factory contamination beyond any measurable scale, a smog which exacerbates acid rain and finally, a failure to change over from coal to hydroelectric power facilities, this due every province relying on its power systems, read local officials, and what you end up with is China facing apocalyptic food shortages.
Hilarious, built to reduce reliance on coal, at one point in 2007 every project in Malta and the planet stalled due world steel production diverted to that thing, and the cataclysmic consequences, to date, unmeasurable.
Astonishingly fast decisions I must say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8EKSBaqGQs
Keep in mind Muscat gracefully asked for the bridge design to be somewhat more considerate of environmental considerations.
No doubt the Chinese consider the blue lagoon as the best spot where to place the main truss holding the span from Comino to Gozo.
Does anyone think that’s not what they came up with to make it feasible and financially self-sustaining?
I can imagine his face as he saw their plans for the first time…..In bright red Autocad.
You may find this interesting:
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2012/12/the-china-mou-memorandum-of-understanding-use-them-at-your-peril.html
An MOU may not be legally effective in ensuring China keeps its side of an agreement, but it is extremely effective in ensuring China gets what it wants out of Joseph Muscat in opposition and as prime minister, as we saw this week.
http://www.tvm.com.mt/news/xjenzati-jinvesitgaw-l-imhuh-ta-dawk-li-huma-ffissati-fuq-sess/
If you had this blog in China you would have been ten feet under by now. They cannot stomach truth and genuine criticism.
You cannot view this blog in China because its platform is blocked.
You cannot run a similar blog on a state-approved platform because independent opinion is banned.
It is an offence to make any remark that is critical of government or government officials. The seriousness of the offence is aggravated by the popularity of the remark.
So it’s all OK to have a shady deal with China, an undemocratic nation, but then people are against the EU-US trade agreement.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/41142/antittip_front_launched
It just has to be that dork, Briguglio.
One wonders what’s wrong with American workers left homeless.
Must be they’re not his left. Bring on the trade agreement, extend it to Latin America and Japan and kick everything Chinese out. Let them fester in their credit swaps and percentage growth figures changing by the hour.
The drummer boy can’t distinguish production for western democracy, not if it reduces his social standing. Who needs clarity and steady evolution, makes him redundant, can’t have that can we?
I bet he’s against Israel and Iran sharing a pipeline as well, how dare Americans and European pacify that region?
Just make sure Africa remains in safe hands. Robert Mugabe’s a liability anyway and Desertec doesn’t need his territory. Up next, say no to solar if it’s German and not slave labour.
Britain will follow. It can’t go anywhere.
I keep reading this in the light the guest post (http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/07/guest-post-the-public-holds-labour-to-far-lower-standards-because-labour-is-perceived-as-being-typically-maltese/) in order to be able to make sense of Labour supporters defending this dangerous move.
As Ian is saying about MOUs are worth less than the paper they are written on. Yet people believe that they are some legally binding contract that will magically result in significant foreign direct investment.
Where is the Opposition? Does it exist or has it abandoned Malta to its own devices? Wake up Dr Busuttil & Co and stop the self flagellation.
Muscat is a believer in ‘trickle-down’ economics, believing that making the rich get richer in a ‘the end justifies the means’ sort of manner, such as importing dirty rich capitalist pigs and making dirty deals with dirty Chinese will make the Maltese rich.
This interesting article is a bit dated but highly relevant to our current situation here in Malta:
http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/in-praise-of-trickle-economics
He’s worse than that, he doesn’t believe in servicing capital. Just give us the cash and we’ll drop it on our starving.
Don’t expect our press expand on the meaning of this and what it does to Mallia’s agreement.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0FI08920140713
RT’s images self-explanatory.
http://rt.com/news/172400-rocket-attack-tripoli-airport/
Whose side are we on? It does seem there’s been a coordinated offensive against Islamists in Benghazi this morning as well.
Keep calm and stick to pushbacks.