Handle Chinese investments with care

Jun 23, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,

I read with great interest a media report about Finance Minister Winston Jordan declaring to China that Guyana is open for business.
Minister Jordan did a good job promoting Guyana to China while addressing the Ninth International and Infrastructure Forum in Macao. It is simple to understand why Minister Jordan is pushing to do business with what is probably the biggest investor nation in the world, but Guyana has to take note of the track record of some of China’s business people and the way they do business and make use of other nations’ resources.
Make no mistake: I admire China for its brilliant minds and vast contribution to humanity’s knowledge. The Chinese have proven themselves as inventors, traders, scientists, medical researchers and doctors.
I know that the bank note was invented in China and, like many other brilliant Chinese inventions; these marvels were unheard of in Europe before reports came back from the Venetian explorer, Marco Polo.
I know that the Chinese invented gunpowder, movable type, paper, certain art forms and much more. They are also excellent at construction and engineering. Look at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge for instance; it is 55 km long and is said to be the longest bridge in the world.
China is an industrious nation deserving of high acclaim, but I am disappointed with the haphazard way the Chinese handled the construction of the Rupert Craig Highway, which has inconvenienced many people.
While I expect inconveniences when major road-works are done, the contractors of this project do not extend the basic courtesy of informing affected people of impending inconveniences.
If the Chinese can plan, coordinate and execute a project of the magnitude of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, why can’t they execute their undertakings in Third World Countries properly, particularly Guyana?
Yes, it would be wonderful to have Chinese investors here. But we have to guard against certain negative effects, which I feel compelled to highlight because I love my country and want to protect it and ensure it gets everything it deserves.
1. It is common knowledge that the people of China consume every creature that walks, crawls, swims or flies. Left unchecked, this voracious appetite can push every form of animal life to the brink of extinction or even make them extinct. We have to be very careful not to fill China’s eyes with our abundant wildlife, especially rare species.
Furthermore, the Chinese blatantly destroy their own forests, their own trees to meet whatever needs they have. Greenpeace states that only 3.34 percent of China’s forests remain intact. The organisation also maintains that mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are driving forces in the destruction of forests in other parts of the world.
China, the second largest importer of wood products, cannot meet its huge domestic demand for wood because it has destroyed almost all of its trees. Therefore, the Chinese try to meet this growing demand by plundering the forest resources of other countries.
If we give China even half a chance, they will do the same in Guyana.
So we have to be careful with China where our natural resources are concerned. We have to ensure that they are protected from anyone who may want to plunder them in a non-sustainable, uncontrolled way.
Let us not forget the record in Guyana of the Chinese company Bai Shan Lin, which has been accused of many corrupt practices. There were reports in the media of how they raped our forests. In my view, and as reported by the media, they did so with the protection of powerful people. We cannot let this happen again.
They affected every form of local business, including transportation and hardware stores and industries when they started using their duty free concession to venture into other businesses, including the delivery of hardware items on the road and on trucks, thereby affecting local commerce.
2. The Chinese have a reputation of penetrating Governments by offering powerful political personalities kickbacks, ‘gifts’ and favours, and they are known to make all sorts of under-the-table deals with officials to ensure that their investments avoid scrutiny transparency, accountability. In this way, they get away with all kinds of skullduggery and trickery.
It was widely reported that Bai Shan Lin managed to get powerful politicians to orchestrate the release of vehicles seized by the Guyana Revenue Authority.
Although Bai Shan Lin raked in big profits from ‘sweetheart deals’, the company failed to fulfill its end of the bargain and Guyana never got any value-added benefits from the company’s operations here.
A simple Google search will expose Chinese investors’ methodology for penetrating political powerhouses in Third World countries. Once officials in power take something from them, the outcome of any project and the way their business operates is never the same because the authorities who are supposed to be protecting national interests become hopelessly compromised.
The Government of China has strict rules against corruption and even administers the death penalty to corrupt officials in its country. So we know China as a nation has zero tolerance for corrupt practices. I remember that China executed two persons in 2009 for the toxic milk scandal, which reflected badly on their country.
We therefore know that China’s Government has a dim view of corruption. However, some of its business people are not as ethical.
3. As my beautiful country woos Chinese contractors, I have observed that the Chinese investors here do not like to pay taxes. I know that they have two registers: one records VAT and the other does not. I was also told that the one that records VAT is compromised.
The GRA therefore needs to do an investigation on the Chinese industries and business to ensure that everything is above board, just as they target local businesses.
4. I have observed that the Chinese here like to receive and make cash payments so that their transactions cannot be tracked easily or are untraceable. Many do avoid using the banking system. That is why when one Chinese store was destroyed by fire at Robb and Camp Streets, I received reliable information that they lost over $20 million in cash.
This cannot be allowed to happen in our country. The financial institutions responsible for tracking money laundering need to take note of this and do something. Guyanese individuals and business people should not be the only ones they target.
By making these points, I am not being discriminatory in any way. I am simply giving fair warning, based on evidence that is readily available online and elsewhere, that the record of Chinese investments worldwide strongly suggests that they must be handled with care or Guyana might end up with the short end of the stick.
I also believe that all investors in Guyana from any nation must pay their fair share of taxes to Guyana where they want to live, raise their families and do business.

Let us remember the lessons that Guyana and other countries have learnt and take the necessary care and precautions in the way we deal with all foreign investors.

Sincerely,

Roshan Khan Snr.
Local Businessman

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