Er, what actually prevented it was the timely intervention of Richard Cachia Caruana, who relayed some important information to Eddie Fenech Adami, who blocked the handover.

Malta’s stupid libel laws prevent me from being more specific. I don’t particularly relish the dropped bar of soap.

That is a card Shiv Nair himself played repeatedly, not least with the World Bank. How else do you think he survived so long?

Did the PM invite the independent press to join him in China?

A visit of this level of importance – the signing of a ground-breaking five year MOU between China and an EU member state – surely merits the attention of all of the local media.

It is also an opportunity to show other EU countries how to deal with China. One of those “Hudu go fikom” moments – or if you prefer that in English: It’s a “Bendover and Take It” moment, as DalliBA John would put it.

“Is Muscat still looking into “internet claims” about Nair’s black listing?”

I am surprised the clowns at the Auberge de Castille have not come out claiming that this was a case of a mistaken identity and that there are two Shiv Nairs.

That depends on who the Chinese person is.

Not Joseph Muscat.

Don’t know why, but the second paragraph of the quote disappears in a red box in my previous comment.

That part of the quote is key to the whole quote, so I repeat it below:

“China doesn’t recognise dual citizenship and Chinese people who have obtained Vanuatu citizenship will automatically lose their Chinese citizenship.”

The article linked above actually contains reference to a very important issue which is of great interest to Malta.

“The Chinese embassy in Vanuatu has asked the government in Port Vila to provide the names and passport numbers of Chinese citizens once they have been granted citizenship.

China doesn’t recognise dual citizenship and Chinese people who have obtained Vanuatu citizenship will automatically lose their Chinese citizenship.”

China does not recognise dual citizenship. This means that, according to Chinese law, a Chinese citizen who buys or acquires a foreign citizenship must surrender the Chinese citizenship. This is not something unheard of: the famous Janko Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern case arose because of a similar principle in Austrian law.

It would be interesting for the Maltese media to pick up this matter and investigate how Joseph MOUscat and Manwel Mallia are dealing with this matter when selling EU/Maltese passports to Chinese citizens.

Eric Major, the Managing Director of Henley & Something – the guy who had described ‘astonishingly ground-breaking’ Joseph Muscat as a “visionary” in the Kazakhstan press – had told PBS news that there were like 60 Chinese ‘families’ interested in buying the EU passport from Malta immediately.

I am wondering: has China – or their Ambassador here – asked Joseph MOUscat to give them the names of Chinese citizens who have applied for, or have bought, an EU/Maltese passport via Henley & Something? And if yes, how did MOUscat go about replying to such request?

I think this matter should be raised in a Parliamentary Question: Can the Minister for Police, the Army, Broadcasting, National Security, Catering and National Identity inform the “Highest Instition of the Land” whether China, or any of its Communist Party officers or their representatives, asked the Maltese government to provide details of Chinese citizens who bought, or have shown interest in buying an EU/Maltese passport – knowing that Mr. Eric Major had publicly declared that Chinese nationals were interested to buy such passports for their families?

One would hope that Joseph MOUscat will not be personally delivering a list of Chinese applicants to the Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao when he meets him in Guiyang at the Eco Forum this week.

If MOUscat/Mallia do not give China a list of Chinese citizens who receive an EU/Maltese passport, wouldn’t MOUscat and Mallia be making new EU/Maltese citizens individuals who are manifestly in breach of the law in their own country and exposing Malta to a diplomatic row with China?

If China did not ask MOUscat/Mallia for a list of Chinese citizens buying the EU/Maltese passports, why did it not do so in the case of Malta but it did so in the case of Vanuatu? Are Chinese citizens applying for the EU/Maltese passport privileged Chinese citizens in the eyes of the Chinese government? Are they connected to the Chinese government?

And if MOUscat/Mallia give China a list of Chinese citizens applying for an EU/Maltese passport, why don’t they give that same list to the Maltese public?

On this matter, MOUscat can run, but he cannot hide.