OPINION: Down with China -ungrateful is the PPP

Last Updated on Friday, 18 April 2025, 21:40 by Writer

By GHK Lall

What China had eluded before has now come down on its head full blast. Before it was down with South Vietnam, down with South Korea, and down with America (yes, America!). By the voices in the raggedy, but admirable PPP. Across Manchuria and down by the South China Sea enjoyed a charmed life, a respite, on the drawing board of the PPP. It was a safe harbor for the Chinese granted a reprieve from the wrath of the PPP. That gone, yesterday. China’s silence on Venezuela is the reason offered by the PPP Government, and the hapless Foreign Minister was given an untidy job to do. In the spirit of Easter, my language is undergoing a change. China, China, China, where are thee? Dialogue with Caracas, say the Chinese. So do I.

In a huff and puff, Venezuela has been identified as China’s sin; hence, it must be made into the sacrificial lamb. Over Venezuela or for America, I ask? Not too long ago, in the forlorn lifetime of Guyanese, China was hailed as friend and asset, by none other than the Chief Priest of the PPP Government, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. I recall that one well, heard often. The other High Priest, President Dr. Ali also chimed in occasionally, as the spirit stirred him. I weigh whether the spirit was holy or of, ah, radically different. But it was Guyana and China, and China was good for Guyana.

What happened? There’s the January 20th Movement? From over there, that took the fullest control over here. It’s why the ambassador is so silent, serene: she has very little to do, with all the heavy lifting done in Columbia. Not Bogotá, but the one by Ronald Reagan International. So, China is out. Minister Todd is telling the world that it’s because of China’s continuing silence on Venezuela. The PPP decided it was time to convert its marbles into ice cubes, and then use them as dice. It is the Guyana version (the PPP’s, really) of the Great Game. No friends, only interests. Sadly, not Guyanese interests enjoying rare paramountcy, but party interests.

Want to stay in power? Then take Venezuela and beat China silly, and all the way back to Beijing. It is said that silence is golden and silence is bliss. When the Chinese were good for their billions and were silent about how those were spent (and siphoned off) not a single person in the PPP Government objected to their silence. When Guyanese businesspeople cried bitterly, complained dreadfully, about the Chinese commandeering their space, taking away their livelihoods, silence reigned eternally from Freedom House, State House, and Vice President Jagdeo’s house in his beachfront paradise on the East Coast. His was a Shangri-la visited by all kinds of nifty folk, one of whom was a man called Sue (anglicized for disguise). Now portfolio aside, the good doctors Ali and Jagdeo put up poor Dr. Todd to be the mortician, cut up China.

The rationale coming from the foreign ministry is that the Chinese are too quiet. Who could be quieter on Venezuela than Excellency Ali? The man in Caracas has repeatedly called him a ‘stooge’ and not one word from Guyana’s president about that insult. But China is the enemy of the PPP’s friend America. The enemy of my friend is my enemy. Thus, China is the enemy of the PPP. In a New York minute, China has tumbled from economic pal to border controversy pushover. This is some country, isn’t it? More accurately, this is the extraordinary PPP, fast on its feet, acrobatic and knowing how high to jump. And how often. And for whom and what as the prize. Look at who else has been pushed into the political high jumping game. There is the PNC and the AFC with their joining and unjoining farce that fools none. Pave the way for a PPP victory. It is anything for America and, I must say it, Exxon.

Poor China is the whipping boy, with Venezuela as the convenient prop. Who wants to fall for that pickaxe job done on the Chinese are free to do so. But not I, sire. I remember that China has US$60 billion plus in Venezuela, hence its threading of the Guyana-Venezuela border needle. There is sprawling irony here from Ali and Barry. Neither of the two could manage a word against Exxon, but they blast China for not doing what they themselves are helpless to do. Speaking up. Speaking out. When was the last time that Drs. Ali and Jagdeo stood by the Guyanese people? But this is what they want China to do for them re Venezuela. Otherwise, smart people are seeing the 38% tariff as the studded whip to goad Guyana to kick China in the groin area. The Ali-Jagdeo axis just did that to China. The Venezuelan pretext rings hollow, reeks of men who sold their souls, to be right with the Americans. Selling themselves is alright with me. But not selling Guyana for another 2%, and another claim about partnership.

Submission. The PPP doesn’t stand for anything today. Correction. The PPP stands for deviousness, abandonment of its friends, and national betrayal. And all for self-empowerment. Conclusion. Maduro has it right: craven stooges. Cubans, watch out! Guyanese are already down and out.