Asked to comment on the Venezuela border controversy that’s been boiling over for the last three years – as Mad Maduro exploits Venezuela’s claim that Essequibo is theirs – China’s Chargé d’ Affaires smarmily signalled that “Beijing respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries”!!
How ridiculous can they get?? So, how come his government denounced Pres Trump’s announcement that the US wants Greenland??
Guyana’s never threatened the “territorial integrity” of Venezuela; it’s been Venezuela that’s been violating ours!!
What the heck is this?? So, if a person is raped, we gotta also look at what made the rapist do what he did?? It basically means that China’s manoeuvring alternative positions on the controversy – ignoring the merits and the facts in order to win brownie points from both sides, no matter what the outcome for us!! Another expression that describes their stance even more starkly is “running with the hares and hunting with the hounds”.
That invokes the war Mad Maduro’s presently waging against us, and China refuses to pronounce on that war in an objective manner. Even if it doesn’t want to pronounce on the substantive issues in the controversy, hasn’t China been promoting itself as a champion of multilateralism in world affairs?? Shouldn’t it then support Guyana’s use of the Geneva Agreement – signed by Venezuela – to place the controversy in the hands of the UN Secty General if we couldn’t reach agreement?? And didn’t the UN Secty General – as per the terms of the Geneva Agreement – place the controversy in the hands of the ICJ?? Isn’t that furthering the cause of multilateralism?? How can Mad Maduro’s unilateralism to annex Essequibo and elect a Governor trump this?
China’s speaking from both sides of its mouth, and the incoherence – not to mention the cynicism – is palpable!! But when we look at China’s own position on annexation of other people’s territories, based on unilateralism, the picture becomes clearer. We should never forget that China invaded Tibet with 100,000 troops in late 1949, and, in 1951, formally annexed the entire country!! The Tibetans aren’t Chinese, and apart from the historical record, Tibet had been independent in the modern state system since 1912!!
From the other side of the fence, so to speak, the Chinese have forcibly denied the Muslim Uyghurs of Turkic origin, from Xinjiang, their right to self-determination, as defined by the UN’s Charter!!
The Chinese have gotta be told very firmly that they gotta “sh*t or get off the pot”!! We might be a small nation, but we got options we can chose in the present world dispensation. As an oil producer heading towards1M+ bpd – and strategically positioned next to Venezuela and Brazil – a resurgent America under Trump comes to mind?!!
…with speed
The President pointed out that, among our extraordinarily high road fatalities, motorcyclists amount to an even more extraordinary 43% this past year!! Imagine, THIS year, between Jan 1 and March 3 – a mere two months – there have been 26 fatalities!! In the US, motorcyclists are 28 times more likely to die in a crash than occupants of passenger vehicles; and we’re no different!! And while the numbers aren’t available, from your Eyewitness’s experience driving all over Guyana – from Charity to Crabwood Creek and then to Lethem and in-between — motorcycles amount to at most 10% of vehicles on our roads!!
Many of these motorcyclists don’t even follow the basic rule of riding with helmets, and from the way they pop in and out between vehicles, they clearly think the rules of the road don’t apply to them!! Not a day goes by without reports of motorcycle accidents – which, thank God, don’t all result in fatalities.
But they certainly keep the orthopaedic surgeons at the hospitals busy!!
