Hanover councillors say no to Chinese

A suggestion to twin the municipality of Huanghsi in China with the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) was flatly rejected by two Jamaica Labour Party parish councillors during the regular monthly meeting of the local authority last Thursday.

The subject was raised by Deputy Mayor of Lucea Andria Dehaney-Dinham, who pointed out that she had visited China during the summer holidays as part of a People's National Party delegation.

Dehaney-Dinham said she had discussions with personnel from within the Huangshi municipality, who expressed an interest in establishing a link with the HMC.

But two of the three JLP councillors voiced their disgust at what they described as the colonisation of the region by the Chinese.

"Strategically, they are going island by island, country by country, parish by parish, town by town, and they are timely taking over the world," said councillor of the Lucea division, Easton Edwards.

"They come, they buy out the land, they set up the business; they trick every government ...," he stated angrily.

"We are making some serious mistakes and it may not affect us now, but our children and grandchildren will hold it against us," he argued.

Councillor of the Hopewell division, Devon Brown, in supporting Edwards' arguments, said that as a businessman, each day he comes in contact with counterfeit products, which are all manufactured in China.

"Our food system has been tampered with, all of our brands are being duplicated. We have to be careful, we cannot go with open arms and embrace them without looking ahead," he stated.

The decision was eventually taken to refer the matter to the next sitting of the Strategic Planning and Policy Committee of the corporation.