DOING BUSINESS WITH CHINA

 

What exactly are the terms and conditions that we have entered into with our loans from China? Why exactly was the recent loan of more than US$200 billion more advantageous to T&T than the terms offered by the IMF? The government has said that the IMF terms dictated (inter alia) that there would have to be significant reductions in the work forces in state enterprises such as WASA. Was this the only reason or the deciding factor? If it was the deciding factor does this mean that there will be NO reductions in the work forces of the various state enterprises? What happens if it is later found that unpleasant as it is that there has to be various reductions across the board? Does this mean that the rate of interest payable to the Chinese will be lowered to match that of the IMF? What guarantees (if any) are there that China will not seize any of our assets, like the port for example?

I am trying to understand the logic of our taking this rather large loan from China and not from the IMF.  No clear or logical explanation has ever been given and we seem to be going merrily along with simply the word of the Government that all is well and we don't have a thing to worry about. But the lack of information on or in our dealings with the Chinese gives rise to very ugly and most unnecessary suspicions that range from total incompetence and being outsmarted by the clever Chines to bribery and corruption and everything in between.

Just recently Sri Lanka lost ownership of its ports because it defaulted on a loan from China. Is that possible here? And if not, why not? Because we will never default so there is no danger to us from something like that happening?

Think about all the rights that have been stripped from us over the years: the right to feel safe, the right to know what is happening in the country, the right not to be spied upon by the authorities without some sort of oversight, the right to know the identities of our diverse population, the right to proper and timely information as to our exact financial situation, the right to proper working conditions and the list continues.

We have been compliant in this mistreatment. We vote for people whose policies and politics are not in the best interests of the people but in themselves; and when there is a conflict, guess who wins?

The fact is that the zero sum discourse between the PNM and the UNC of the past several decades has served more as a poison than a fertilizer.

Which comes back to China; why is it in our best interests to do business with China and not know ALL the details?