Why was a protest planned for outside the Chinese Embassy?

Feb 22, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Guyanese have been charged and convicted with serious financial and drug-related crimes in the United States of America, ranging from mortgage fraud, bank, wire fraud and drug trafficking. Yet, no American citizen launched any protest outside of the Guyana Embassy or the Guyana Consulate in New York in protest over the illegal acts, alleged and proven.

The reason is simple. All Guyanese living in the Tri-State area should not be tainted as a result of the unlawful actions of a few. And there have been quite a few unlawful actions committed by Guyanese-born citizens in the United States.

It was therefore surprising to read that a local group of Guyanese citizens were planning to picket the Chinese Embassy in Guyana. This decision was no doubt instigated by the charges which were levied by the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) against a local Guyanese family who are accused of allegedly being involved in financial crimes. It said that it is believed that sums were moved on behalf of Chinese nationals. But no charges have been levied against any such foreign national or firm.

Not many details have been provided by SOCU as to these charges or to the claimed links to Chinese nationals. The details available have been very sketchy and therefore it is somewhat premature for aspersions of even links to be made to foreign nationals in light of the disclosures made thus far.

There is also supposed to be the presumption of innocence. Accused persons are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and this implies that it is the responsibility of the State to establish the veracity of charges against them and not for an accused person to have to establish his or her innocence.

The presumption of innocence however has never prevented persons from protesting either the guilt or innocence of persons. There have been many protests outside the precincts of courts over either the perceived guilt or innocence of persons, but outside of political considerations, such protests have always been based on information which was available about the offences for which the accused have been charged.

SOCU has had a far but stellar reputation when it comes to the successful prosecution of persons for serious financial offences. As far as can be recalled, in its 10-year history SOCU has only had limited success in money laundering prosecution but no massive sums were involved in the successful cases. The present case will test whether SOCU has developed the capability to go after major crimes.

But even if those planning the protest outside of the Chinese Embassy are of the opinion that there is a major money laundering ring in Guyana involving Chinese nationals, why protest outside of the Chinese Embassy? Does this not constitute an unfair stigmatization of the Chinese community in Guyana?

It is surprising that no protests have been planned for outside of the United States Embassy. Far more information is in the public domain concerning the operations of the Exxon Mobil oil company, an American multinational. There is serious concern that the company has signed an agreement with the government of Guyana which has shortchanged the country and the details of which are of concern in relation to the lack of ring fencing, poor royalties and the absence of full liability coverage in the event of an oil spill. There are also concerns about whether the Stability Clause is in contravention of Guyana’s sovereignty.

There are far greater grounds for protesting the workings of the American oil company in Guyana than exists for protesting the Chinese presence in Guyana. But we have no heard of no planned protests outside of the United States Embassy.

So why is China being targeted? If the issue is the illicit operations of some suspected Chinese businesspersons, why involve the Chinese Embassy. The Embassy has since said it will cooperate with any investigation.

Those planning the protest should be circumspect that their actions do not stigmatize the entire foreign Chinese community in Guyana. They should be cautious also about the basis upon which they have formed their assumptions. They should be careful that they are drawn into the new Cold War which the Americans have launched and which aim to limit Chinese influence.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• American, Chinese, Embassy, Peeping Tom, protest

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