VIDEO: Gonzi meets Chinese President in Beijing

deb bugeja

Oct 24th 2008, 13:06

@ Andrew Cachia

I agree with you Dr Muscat would have done the same thing, spending the tax payer money, while we have to make ends meet to the cost of living.

Denis Catania

Oct 24th 2008, 04:06

Do you think Gonzi will question their human rights record? Do you think he should? I think he should. In Malta's case what changed in the last 30 years is, the countries that told us to stay clear from China now need of China, so now they are telling Gonzi to jump and he is jumping. With Mintoff no country was able to tell him what to do. I'm not saying Mintoff was right or I'm a big fan of his. But Mintoff was no puppet.

Victor Borg

Oct 23rd 2008, 22:44

I live in China, and this is what the Chinese national TV news reported today about Malta:

It said Malta was the first European country to be China's friend...

And the allusion was that that was why Hu Jintao, Chinese president, met Gonzi and is so warm towards relations with Malta, because of the appreciation of China that Malta decided to be friendly with Malta so long ago when everyone else mocked China. Let's face it, Malta is so small that it's irrelevant for China and China has many friends now, but the Chinese president still chose to visit Gonzi out of respect and is eager to work closely with Malta. Malta can turn this as an advantage as China is the future, a stable and prosperous country that will overtake the US in 15 years or so in terms of wealth and influence.

You can also read what I write in China by going to www.chinadaily.com.cn and search for "Victor Paul Borg."

carmen caruana

Oct 23rd 2008, 20:25

God bless Socialism!!!

J. Schembri

Oct 23rd 2008, 17:37

Let's be fair with old Dom , he was THE first PM to officially recognise Red China , when Nixon was going to meet Mao , the US authorities asked Malta's authorities about the experience of Malta's official visit. Same goes to Borg Olivier he was first to recognise Libya's revolution.
In China chairman Mao is dead and gone , they are becoming more and more capitalist.
It is the duty of our PM to visit China , while there he may visit Toly Products' China plant , among other "Maltese" production plants.
Where is the investigative journalism on our media?

J Martinelli

Oct 23rd 2008, 15:18

Continued...


The PN have been consistent throughout. Forty years ago, if M Brincat recalls, the world was still wrapped in a cold war situation and the Iron Curtain still divided the East from the West. The ideologies were 180 degrees apart and flirting with China or the USSR did not earn us any points with the West. Neither did the secret deal with N. Korea for the supply of arms and troop training. Did anyone expect the PN not to say anything, or to agree with underhanded deals? Truth is, the PN never made any U-turns especially in regard to foreign policy. It is quite appropriate to dialogue with friendly and not so friendly nations but that does not include making deals which put us in great disfavour with traditional allies.

So, it was great for Mintoff to visit China but not so hot when Dr. Gonzi does? I suppose had it not been for great Dom, our Prime Minister would have not been able to meet with China's President?

Eman Pulis

Oct 23rd 2008, 15:14

I wonder whether we're doing enough to promote Malta's networks with countries outside the EU, particularly tomorrow's emerging super powers like China but also India, Brasil, South Africa. Facts speak louder than words, and what one sees on campus to date shows that we're not exposing our tertiary students well enough outside the EU. When one compares the hundreds of Maltese students who embark on an EU study exchange programs (hundreds per year) with the Maltese students who embark on an exchange outside Europe (only a handful), the discrepancy is alarming. Let's keep in mind that today's tertiary students are likely to become tomorrow's leaders so we need to ensure that adequate relationship building outside the EU takes place at tertiary level.

K Xuereb

Oct 23rd 2008, 14:25

M.Brincat

Mintoff foretold the China of today? Who are you kidding mate? The China of today is mainly the result of the gradual opening of the economic freedoms (not matched by political ones alas) by Deng Xiaoping.

When Mintoff was courting China, it was still under Chairman Mao and in the dying throes of the Cultural Revolution or Great Leap Forward. The Chairman is probably rolling in his mausoleum at seeing how his country has become more capitalist than the 'Degenerate West', economically speaking.

Mintoff's vision was to bring Malta to the brink of, if not outright communism, especially when viewing all his foreign 'policies' and the kind of unsavoury alliances that he made. Not simply Maoist China but also North Korea and the Romania of Ceausescu.

Pierre Agius

Oct 23rd 2008, 14:25

@ M. Brincat. Good joke really. You made my day. Mintoff wasa visionary! Good one. Carry on.

Tony Cassar

Oct 23rd 2008, 13:43

@M. Brincat

You conveniently chose to ignore an important part of what I wrote, that our partnership with China in those days cost us our credibility with our European neighbours and beyond because China was the epitome of totalitarian rule at the time - and that was years before Tienamen Square.

M. Brincat

Oct 23rd 2008, 12:30

Tony, Mintoff was a visionary - he foretold that China would rise to it's today's state!

You said the world has changed - 30 years ago we got cheap stuff from China - what are we getting now? Cheap stuff from China through the various eAuction sites! The world doesn't change after all ... it's only the PN that are trying to make us believe that MLP are the owners and sole inhabitants of Uturnlandia, when in fact, PN has been living there before, and it has actually asked MLP to join!

Tony Cassar

Oct 23rd 2008, 12:14

I can't believe some of the comments here.

Yes, times change. What didn't make sense 30 years ago, makes sense now because the world has changed redically and China is an economic power that has to be reckoned with.

Flirting with china today makes sense because of this.

Flirting with China in the 70's didn't because it only helped us to turn us into the laughing stock of Europe. We chose to ally ourselves with a country half a world away to the detriment our our relations with the European countries on our doorstep.

And what did we get in return? cheap plastic toys, flying wheel and a big hole in Paola which contributed to extending the sorry existance of our shipyards.

M. Brincat

Oct 23rd 2008, 11:37

Guys ... same thoughts that passed through my mind ... it's incredible how times change, isn't it?

Andrew ... it's the PM's duty ... granted ... I accept that ... but on the same lines, wasn't it the Opposition Leader's duty as well when he visited Libya a few weeks ago? Remember what your PNer friends said about him!

Andrew cachia

Oct 23rd 2008, 11:26

Grow up you guys.... It is a Prime Ministers Duty to go to summits like these. If you don't like it, thats your problem. Lets see what Joseph Muscat will do.... if he ever is in Government.

Michael Cutajar

Oct 23rd 2008, 11:15

The Prime Minister flies to china while the employees at Toly are made redundant.