The Tribune

“Ain’t yinna do it first? Den why yinna poking yer finger in my eye and blamin’ me fo‘ what yinna dun do?”

Today’s politicians sound like a bunch of scrapping finger-pointing school boys over who did what first, instead of concentrating on the here and now in making statesman-like decisions on what is best for this country and its citizens. It does not matter who brought the Chinese here. What matters is how much of this country are we willing to cede to this foreign state, thereby denying future generations of Bahamians control over their own destiny. In our opinion Beijing’s footprint is already too large and under the Christie government appears to be spreading. What makes this even more alarming is that all this is taking place in stealth. Thank goodness for “whistleblowers” in this country who are prepared to risk their own well being for the future of this country.

Behind our backs, Agriculture Minister V Alfred Gray, had given the Bahamian Ambassador at our embassy in Beijing permission to approach the People’s Republic of China with a $2.1 billion agriculture and fisheries investment over a 10-year period for Andros. It is proposed that our government “provide fishing licences to each of the 100 corporate entities participating in the initiative, consistent with existing laws” — those laws being that only Bahamians can fish in Bahamian waters. It goes on to say that only Bahamian farmers and fishermen will make up the workforce. However, the proposal concedes that probably each of the 100 entities “will require the services of one fishing and one farming expert, for a limited period who will probably be Chinese” – that works out to 200 Chinese. The corporate entities, will be owned equally by 10 Bahamians and 10 Chinese. It would be interesting to know who the 10 Bahamians are who, we would guess, have already been given the nod. It will start with 100 acres of leased Andros farmland with the promise of an additional 100 acres provided all the rules are followed during the ten-year period.

Before Mr Gray gave his permission to present the proposal, did he research Chinese fishing practices? Did he investigate the fear of international environmental groups of the Chinese depleting the world’s fishing grounds with “destructive”methods?

Before giving our ambassador permission to approach his Beijing counterpart to float the proposal, did Mr Gray first consult with Prime Minister Christie or was Mr Gray on a fishing expedition of his own?

Attention now has to be given as to whether this proposal will assist Bahamians or destroy their fishing industry in a very short time. (See warning on page 13 by college of the Bahamas professors who say our marine resources would be destroyed in 10 years if the necessary restrictions are not in place).

It doesn’t matter how many documents Mr Christie presents to show which government brought the Chinese to the Bahamas. None of them will help today’s problem if it is found on the long stretch that the proposal now before us will prove destructive to the Bahamas’ fishing industry.

We shall now give a brief run-through as to how the People’s Republic of China replaced the Taiwanese embassy here.

It is true that under Hubert Ingraham’s FNM government diplomatic relations were established with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. The FNM accepted the “One China” policy that tiny Taiwan could not be recognized as representing all of China. PRC was busy throughout the Caribbean at that time having Taiwan replaced wherever it had an embassy to deny it a seat at the UN. Taiwan still has no seat in the UN and the PRC is ensconced throughout the Caribbean, including the Bahamas.

“The FNM treated the relationship between The Bahamas and PRC as it treated its relationship with all other nations with which The Bahamas maintained diplomatic relations interacting with the Government and its citizens on cultural, economic and social levels,” said Mr Ingraham at the time.

The FNM then approved the investment of Hutchison Whampoa, an Anglo-Chinese conglomerate in Freeport in 1996-97.

PRC’s next appearance on the scene was in 2008 with the partnership in Baha Mar. In our opinion it was the Christie government’s failure to sign contracts on time that destroyed Baha Mar’s future. As we have often repeated in this column if Mr Christie had signed the agreements that Mr Izmirlian had with Harrahs and Starwood, the PRC would have never cast its shadow over this land. Mr Christie signed the heads of agreement for Baha Mar with Mr Izmirlian in 2005 after already a three year delay. However, he dragged his feet over the final signing until after the 2007 election, thus causing Mr Izmirlian to lose the Harrah’s partnership.

This was immediately followed by the world economic collapse and the only entity on the world’s lending market at the time were the Chinese. In good faith Mr Izmirlian sought their financial backing.

Mr Christie seemed loathed to sign the Izmirlian agreement before the election, which he lost. The first agreement signed by the Christie government had made sizeable land transfers, which the Ingraham government changed and in some instances cancelled.

The financing for Baha Mar came with ties - the use of a Chinese Construction Company as the principal contractor and the use of a majority of Chinese labour for the construction. It was a bitter pill for the Bahamian side interested in maximizing benefits to Bahamians. A tentative agreement on the part of the Government was contingent on a specific increase in the sum of dollar contracts to be awarded to Bahamian-owned construction companies and other Bahamian service providers. This was agreed. As well, an extensive training programme was to be instituted to ensure Bahamians were in the best position to assume posts in the operation and management of the new resort.

However, the FNM decided that it could not agree the number of Chinese that PRC wanted employed and so it took the proposed agreement to parliament. That approval was obtained without dissent from Mr Christie and his Opposition PLP. However, what is interesting is now that the shoe is on the other foot, the Christie-led Government, notwithstanding the precedent set by the FNM in 2010, approved the engagement of large numbers of Chinese work permit holders in the construction of The Pointe without any advice or approval from Parliament.

We now suggest that the childish games as to who did what first come to an end and the Christie government turn its attention to what is best for the Bahamian people and future generations.