Being conditioned by this government’s propaganda, there were some eyebrows raised when the Nationalist Party announced that on the invite of the Chinese government, the leader of the Opposition would be visiting China.

Many think that our relationship with China started with the advent of the Labour government’s coming to power. Well, wrong. Malta’s relationship with China dates back 43 years, practically 25 years of which were fostered by the Nationalist Party in government.

Over 50 co-operation agreements of varied social and economic interests were signed during these years, 16 of which in the last legislature.

The Nationalist Party is not courting the Chinese government for the first time. It was pretty clear from the meetings we had with senior officials of government and the Communist Party, including Guo Jinlong, the Communist Party Secretary to Beijing and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, the highest political organ in the country.

They expressed gratitude for the strong relationship China and Malta have built along the years not least thanks to successive Nationalist governments.

Of particular note was their appreciation of the Nationalist administration led by Lawrence Gonzi and the extraordinary humanitarian effort Malta played in saving thousands of Chinese lives during the Libyan conflict.

China acknowledged the huge efforts that Malta had made through a visit by the then Vice President (and President-in-waiting) Xi Jinping in 2009.

Jinping had presented a four-point proposal on deepening cooperation between the two countries, through the deepening of traditional friendly relations, tapping the potential for economic and trade cooperation, expanding exchanges in the fields of culture, education, health care and tourism, and fourthly, Malta playing a role in promoting the sound and stable development of relations between China and the European Union. President Xi Jinping was elected President in 2012.

It is the Chinese government’s policy not only to foster strong relations with governments but also to have strong relationships with parties in Opposition, who are governments-in-waiting.

The Nationalist Party delegation was led by Simon Busuttil as party leader of, Beppe Fenech Adami, deputy leader for party affairs, myself as spokesman for foreign affairs and the Mediterranean, Trevor Degiorgio as party international secretary and Matthew Gatt as head of the leader’s office.

The visit had two dimensions to it: the fostering of the political links between the two countries and exploring further the opportunities of trade and investment between them.

No country in the world can ignore the economic emergence of China and the Nationalist Party has clearly understood this before many others

In Beijing, we had meetings with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, the International Department of the CPC Committee and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

In Shanghai, we also met business leaders and potential investors and spoke about the opportunities Malta offers to investors especially now as a member of the European Union.

We also visited the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and held two important meetings, one with Shanghai Electric, and the much anticipated meeting, for some, with Malta’s consul to Shanghai, Sai Mizzi.

During our meeting with Shanghai Electric we got to know more about the project than what the government has told us in these two years.

Busuttil made the party’s position clear: that we are not against Chinese investment in Malta, but this has to be based on the principles of openness and transparency especially when a deal will impact Malta for over 20 years.

The senior officials we met clearly agreed with Busuttil and stated that they too were in favour of transparency as they wanted the investment to benefit all Malta.

Clearly, the Nationalist Party’s concern is with Joseph Muscat’s government and not Shanghai Electric. The meeting we had made us wonder why this government continues to shroud the signed contracts in such secrecy. What is there to hide?

The meeting with our extremely well paid consul general was very bizarre.

At last, there is an office for this official, who, up to just a few days ago, was untraceable by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which seems to know nothing about what she is doing.

We too went out of the meeting very confused as to what she is really doing in Shanghai. In two years she seems to have helped one person who had sometrouble, tried to export wine and pork to China but gave up this role as she decided that Maltese industry is not competitive, and re-defined her role as simply that of a salesgirl, by merely making introductions.

She told us she could not be contacted because she does not sit behind a desk, the staple excuse for abstaining from work. In this age of mobile phones and IT if one wants to contact Mizzi one still needs to call the Beijing Embassy.

Clearly not up to it, she did not understand a basic question as to what strategy she is adopting in promoting Malta.

She knows little about what Malta can offer except “not only sun and sea” and that she had to go out with a map to explain where Malta is.

On the prompting of the chaperon sent to China by Economy Minister Chris Cardona, she said her strategy was to visit companies face to face.

The only result she could talk about in two years was a testing office that will be opened by Huawei, but when asked what she had done to secure this investment she fumbled round about making introductions.

Quite an expensive ‘salesgir’”, no more than an ‘introducer’ for €13,000 per month. Clearly Mizzi is not fit for purpose.

The Nationalist Party in Opposition is preparing itself for being in government. China is an important international partner with whom we intend fostering our relationship.

No country in the world can ignore the economic emergence of China and the Nationalist Party has clearly understood this before many others.

Tonio Fenech is Opposition spokesman for foreign affairs and the Mediterranean.