Prime Minster Gaston Browne has recently declined a deal with Chinese multinational technology giant Huawei, claiming he was being cautious and mindful of the ongoing tensions between the US and China.
The company, which provides telecommunications equipment, electronics and smartphones, was seeking to upgrade the handset retail component of APUA iNet’s brand.
The government-owned entity had sought to complete a US$40 Chinese-facilitated loan arrangement at an interest rate of two percent that would span over the next 20 years.
Speaking on Pointe Fm, Browne revealed that the government had decided to forego the deal amid friction between the US and Huawei, despite describing the loan terms as the “best in the market”.
“When the Chinese give a loan of two percent interest, which ordinarily we would have to borrow at seven or eight percent, they are [essentially] providing a subsidy on the interest [amounting to] six percent for 20 years,” Browne explained.
The deal, he continued, could have saved the country as much as US$48 million over the next 20 years.
The US has been outspoken against the UK’s decision to allow Huawei into its 5G phone network in the future. The US claims there is a risk the Chinese state could exploit Huawei equipment to conduct surveillance.
But Britain’s spy agencies believe any risk can be contained as long as Huawei is only allowed a 35 per cent or less share of each mobile company’s network.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have chosen not to go with Huawei,” Browne said. “And you can see where we are taking the interest of the United States into consideration. [The United States has] made a claim where they say Huawei has been spying on them and stealing their technology.
“We don’t know that to be true, but we do not want to get into that sort of geopolitical exchange,” he explained, despite the fact that the deal had no telecommunications component.
“Foregoing this loan from China at two percent is not necessarily in our interest, but we understand the consequences of the propaganda, that they would say that China is utilising the telecoms infrastructure in Antigua and Barbuda to get into their broadband system and to spy and we don’t want to get involved in that kinda politics,” he added.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at a policy discussion on US/Caribbean relations at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel last week, warning Jamaica and its neighbours against accepting “easy money from places like China”.
PM Browne dismissed Pompeo’s notion, saying, “I hear all kinds of stupendous arguments that [the Chinese] are colonising us with grants. They are giving us a grant now of $120 million to build low income homes for our people and we gladly accepted.”
The US’s top diplomat had also made strong assertions that China posed a threat to national security in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
“The People’s Republic of China has never approached us to take any action against the United States or any other country for that matter,” Browne responded.
“This idea about security threats of China as a result of them helping countries to build capacity, I really cannot see the rationale in that type of thinking,” he added.
Browne identified the US as an important partner for the country, saying that “80 percent of our trade takes place in the United States and we have historical ties. There is no way that we could have a hostile relationship with the United States”.
Despite his cautious stance on the Huawei issue, the PM said that he will not allow either the US or China to dictate Antigua and Barbuda policy or “who our friends should be”.
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Not sure what the good PM is up to this time, but he KNOWS something, it seems. Hmmmm. Lots of questions to be answered. Be careful, sir, we ARE friends with the US sand China, but we sure not friends with the Trump regime; besides, they will soon be gone. The old man already “impeached for life”. He on the way out, either through the trial or the ballot box. THEN, hopefully, there’ll be somebody at the helm in the White House with whom we can work again.
Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock! “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks!
LEST WE REMEMBER!
2014 was a heady time! It began with a loud Bang of “Entrepreneurial Socialism” which has now morphed silently into a whimper of “Empowerment Capitalism!” This mere voice in the wilderness had warned many of mi gud frens that if “Entrepreneurial Socialism” was not cloaked in philosophical and ecclesiastical raiments, it would mean nothing to the People of African Descent and as noted by Langston Hughes would like a “dream deferred dry up like a raisin in the sun? … fester like a sore— And then run? … stink like rotten meat? … crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” into nothingness as the Wadadli Power Plant!
The Firm delivered a major smack down at CHOGM15 with the election of Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC, QC, a Labour Party politician, and lawyer, former Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Island, “The Caribbean Black Hope,” to secure the continued White Supremacist Rule of Divine Right of Kings of Elizabeth’s heirs over the Commonwealth! “In the colonial context the settler only ends his work of breaking in the native when the latter admits loudly and intelligibly the supremacy of the white man’s values.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
De worl boss gud fren in blackface delivered a stinging cow hide whipping at de intersection of da bridge where (Edgar O Lake’s Devil’s Bridge) “the scheming game and cruel plans of a selection of Clubs with dazzling masquerading skills and truly heartless masks sought to assemble” visa free invasion caravans! “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” – So said Lord Palmerston, speech, House of Commons, 1 March 1848 so said young Justin at His Arabian Nights Masquerade Ball in 2017!
From 2018 to 2020 with slow but silent and deadly “whining”, “Empowerment Capitalism!” peeked out from below the legs of LIAT as an act touted to be in the best interest of the country while “we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
“Pragmatist” says the Venerable Pompey! “A lying king” who has parlayed “talk as you like” into “talk if you think you bad”says the Most POWAful Grande Dame! Who am I to blow against these two Aeolian Hurricane winds buffeting the Rock from the leewards and the windwards! De Bust at Da Bridge conceded: “The Afrocentric method is a form of cultural criticism that examines etymological uses of words and terms in order to know the source of an author’s location. This allows us to intersect ideas with actions and actions with ideas on the basis of what is pejorative and ineffective and what is creative and transformative at the political and economic levels.” – Dr. Molefi Asante: Afrocentricity The Theory of Social Change!
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi”(WB Yeats The Second Coming) strides the Ambassador signalling the Fates. “the government of Antigua and Barbuda … . We would have as much objection to the governments of Cuba and Venezuela trying to dictate to us as we have to any other government attempting to do so. Perhaps the concept of small countries valuing their sovereignty is too difficult for big countries to appreciate.” “Oh Gad!” Joanne Hillhouse! “Have Mercy Pon Me” – 50 Cent!
“The basic confrontation which seemed to be colonialism versus anti-colonialism, indeed capitalism versus socialism, is already losing its importance. What matters today, the issue which blocks the horizon, is the need for a redistribution of wealth. Humanity will have to address this question, no matter how devastating the consequences may be.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock! “There is a dramatic conflict in what is commonly called the human sciences. Should we postulate a typical human reality and describe its psychic modalities, taking into account only the imperfections, or should we not rather make a constant, solid endeavor to understand man in an ever changing light?” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks!
From out of the Bush to the heights of Mount Obama the WTO escapee has evaded capture as the Don continues to leverage the dysfunctional $hithole Capos’ fears “that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect” as noted in MAGA History!
The Lesson of Huawei is that “Whether he likes it or not, the black man has to wear the livery the white man has fabricated for him” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks!
The 50’s Company’s Station Chief’s children still roam the land among the highest political, economic and social classes! Stanford was seized in 2009! Poor Leroy King was renditioned in 2019! The Company have their eyes on a select few beach bums and bosom buddies! The seals enjoy nightly swims and foraging! Poor Billy, the Colossus of Brimstone was eaten alive, never to go sailing again!
“In order to assimilate the culture of the oppressor and venture into his fold, the colonized subject has to pawn some of his own intellectual possessions. For instance, one of the things he has had to assimilate is the way the colonialist bourgeoisie thinks. … A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
I understand the neutral position the PM decided to take on this matter of Geopolitics between the two powers, in a small island sandwiched between the competing superpowers.
I’m also confident that the PM had analysed the geopolitical situation worldwide, deciding on a policy of self preservation, a matter of, wait and see policy, as the geopolitical scenario plays out, then an appropriate and resolute decision can be taken, considering the domestic policies that is sustainable for Antigua.
I’m certain that Think Tanks and the PM are aware of the right course to follow for a small nation, concerning the Political/economic paradigm if sovereignty in the long run is the desired objective, and for the good of the nation.
The time is probably not right for the PM to make resolute decisions on geopolitical issues, so i give him credit for being cautious and rational.
However, with the changing economic paradigm in the future of the world, unless there is an economic and political paradigm transformation or adjustment in the west, then perhaps our policies and interest should be reconsidered in the interest of all citizens in the long run.
I sincerely hope that in the near future that this country will be under the influence of a political/economic system that is progressive, sustainable, free of hegemonic international interest and primarily beneficial for local citizens and not just for the wealthy investors.
GIVE ME A BREAK! You all believe that load of crock? Seriously? He walked away from all that money?
Lets get through the Corona virus before all else least we have no one left to care
“……ideas with actions and actions with ideas……and what is creative and transformative at the political and economic levels.” Dr. Molefi Asante (per JFII). The thoughtful and inspiring words of Marcus Garvey come to mind: “God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.”
The purpose and implementation of our education system, in particular scientific and technological knowledge and skills, MUST ALWAYS be the foundation of our DEVELOPMENT and SUSTAINABILITY at all levels of our nation/village A&B. We will succeed on that basis!
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