Strange how neither Saviour Balzan nor Times of Malta mentioned that Muscat had ANOTHER memorandum of understanding with China four years ago
Published:
July 13, 2014 at 7:16pm
From China’s People’s Daily of 8 April 2010, when Muscat was Opposition leader and made an ‘official’ visit to China:
On inter-party relations, Xi, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, urged the two parties to enhance exchanges.
The Communist Party of China and Malta Labor Party signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation during Muscat’s visit, which runs from April 5 to 12.
Muscat was grateful for China-aided projects in Malta, saying his country as a member of the European Union would work for the further development of bilateral relations as well as the China-EU relations.
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http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6944809.html
That was an agreement between two leaders in waiting.
Xi Jinping is now president, as he knew he would be because China is a one-party state.
Muscat is now prime minister, as he knew he would be because China doesn’t leave anything to chance.
Muscat called his 2010 MOU an agreement between two countries, when he didn’t even represent one.
I think you just rounded up Muscat’s political career.
Lou Bondi’ to expand.
TVM didn’t mention the 2010 MOU, either.
Savarse Bullshitan wrote this for Malta Today:
“He had just spent a week in China where he met premier Li Keqiang, with VIP treatment for his delegation as kilometres of roads were cleared of traffic to allow his car convoy to pass through Beijing’s clogged city-centre. Security was tight and policemen stood at attention by the sidewalk.”
Total arse-licking North Korean style propaganda. Savarse Bullshitan is a real dick-wad.
If he was that desperate to see a bit of China he should have bought a ticket and gone there on holiday.
The PN is not mentioning this memorandum of understanding either, or at least, they’re not giving giving it the importance it deserves.
The PN government should have kicked up a fuss back in 2010, because a foreign country has no business consorting with the Opposition and signing secret agreements with them.
It was a serious mistake on the part of the government to practically ignore this.
It wasn’t a secret. Muscat wrote about it himself, calling it a long term agreement between two countries.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/128130324/Joseph-Muscat-says-he-signed-an-agreement-with-China-on-Malta-s-behalf-it-Torca-18APR2010
If a medium term agreement lasts five years, hoe long is a long term agreement?
Please read this:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/128130324/Joseph-Muscat-says-he-signed-an-agreement-with-China-on-Malta-s-behalf-it-Torca-18APR2010
Wasn’t this illegal at the time?
What’s more, the MOU of 2010 is of huge importance in Maltese politics, because it is an integral part of Joseph Muscat’s ‘roadmap.’
Here. Less than year after Muscat had signed his secret MOU with China in 2010 – in China, in the presence of Alex Sceberras Trigona, and away from the independent Maltese media, ‘selected’ or otherwise – Muscat went to the Malta Labour Party’s general conference and promised a 5-year ‘roadmap.’
“Labour to prepare 5-year roadmap for the country” – Times of Malta, 6 February 2011
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110206/local/decisions-on-gozo-should-be-taken-by-gozitans-muscat.348955
In understanding Muscat and his ‘roadmap,’ it is useful to put into context the time when he started to use his buzzword – and yes, that was soon after the visit to China and the signing of the secretive MOU.
That’s the time when Muscat started mentioning the ‘roadmap.’
As I said before, the MOU of 2010 can be called the Muscat Owes You (to China).
Now that Muscat has been put in power here in Malta – most probably with Chinese help – and the man who signed the MOU with Muscat in 2010, Xi Jinping, is President of China, the latter has called his lapdog to China to put him on a lead.
Staying in the animal kingdom: now it is time for China to start cashing in on its winning horse.
The Muscat Owes You has now been exchanged for a Malta Owes You. This is now the What-Is-In-It-For-China part of the deal initiated in 2010.
I think that as a Maltese people we can compare this moment to two other moments in history:
1. When Mintoff extended the lease of the military base in Malta to the British so that he could get some more cash.
2. When Mintoff tied Malta’s destiny to that of Libya soon after the British refused to give in to Mintoff’s threats on the extension of the lease of the military base.
Labour’s foreign policy will continue to be consistently wrong and predictable for as long as it is shaped by Alex Sceberras Trigona. It was Joseph Muscat who put AST back into the International Secretary job at the MLP.
When Joseph Muscat refers to the ties with China starting in 1972, he is referring to a visit by Dom Mintoff to China in which he was accompanied by Alex Sceberras Trigona.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Dom-Mintoff-in-China-i-1972.jpg
The roadmap and the Malta-China MOUs have AST stamped all over them, although this is not to say that Shiv Nair and others did not have a major role as well.
I had pointed out several times before the unusual presence of Alex Sceberras Trigona on the balcony at Mile End when Joseph Muscat first emerged publicly on that balcony to celebrate Labour’s electoral victory in the 9 March 2013 elections.
There were not many Labour officials on that balcony, so AST’s presence sticked out like a sore thumb. Especially so when one considers that he was the party’s International Secretary, but he (like many others) had been hiding throughout the electoral campaign.
To me, it was very clear that AST had an important role in Labour’s victory, and that he was there because he was one of the ‘faceless men’ that had brought Labour to power. Could it be that he was there on behalf of China to ensure that everything was “on track”?
Now this must be seen in the context of the fact that it was under Joseph Muscat that AST had returned to the Labour fold – he had been sidelined by Alfred Sant.
In August 2008, against public expectations and in one of the most controversial decisions, AST was elected International Secretary of the MLP. At a time when Labour said it was renewing, the return of AST in Labour’s central administration certainly represented a return to the era of the dinosaurs. AST was part of the Mintoff and KMB governments, a great friend of Ghaddafi, and remains famous for his secret arms treaties with North Korea.
I have also recently pointed out how AST has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the World Trade Organisation, and that this appointment must be connected to Muscat’s relations with China. Muscat will be relying on AST’s strategic post at the WTO to ensure that his deals with China work out at the EU.
Meanwhile, if we needed any further proof of AST’s ties with China, have a look at this.
http://www.tochina.it/training/tochina-summer-school/china-room-conversations/
http://www.tochina.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/CRC-2014-Conference-poster.pdf
Alex Sceberras Trigona was one of the speakers at the 2014 China Room Conversations organised by TOChina, focussing on “China’s evolving role in the Mediterranean space” – held about 3 weeks ago. AST spoke on China in the West Asia and North Africa Region: A Perspective from Southern Europe.
The question is, why did not Saviour Balzan or the Times mention this agreement.
Could the answer be that they too had an agreement with the MLP.
Saviour may be mollified and jollified by a trip here and there, but what’s the excuse for ToM?
Which other specific entity or entities linked to ToM management is or are gaining plumpier and more direct benefits, even if not so evident to the general public?
Why the humungous effort to kill and still any opposition?
That in itself has created a rotten odour around those involved.
Let them to it Tabatha.
Tell us more, Tabatha.