Alpha 
Post by fretslider on May 1, 2020 4:41:43 GMT -5
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has been justifiably criticised for its indulgence of China, refusing to condemn its cover-up of the initial Covid-19 outbreak and obsequiously congratulating the People’s Republic on a belated lockdown.
On a visit to Beijing (but conspicuously not Wuhan) at the end of January, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, hosted by Chinese president Xi Jinping and foreign minister Wang Yi, lauded the country’s “new standard for outbreak response”. But then Ghebreyesus has been on good terms with the Chinese hierarchy for some time.
As a senior Ethiopian government figure, first as health minister (2005-12) and then foreign minister (2012-16), he was a key member of a regime that courted Beijing as ardently as any other country. The result is that China now provides 60 percent of investment in Ethiopia. In return, Ethiopia is now the east African node of China’s “belt and road”, handy for the Red Sea ports of Djibouti via Chinese-built railways, and from there the Suez Canal to the north.
Mega projects
When Wang Yi visited Addis Ababa in 2014, he and Ghebreyesus released a joint statement celebrating how “between 2003 and 2013, the yearly volume of bilateral trade between China and Ethiopia increased by more than 13 times. China has become the biggest foreign investor and the largest trading partner of Ethiopia… [and] has provided a large amount of financial support for the construction of a number of Ethiopia’s mega projects [including] the first Express Toll Way and the first operative Wind Power Plant, the Addis Ababa Light Track Railway and other modern railway developments as well as the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital and the Confucius Institute [Beijing’s well-known soft propaganda arm].”
Cheap labour
To these can now be added the 600-bed Addis Ababa Silk Road General Hospital and, while Ghebreyesus was going easy on China in December, the launching of Ethiopia’s first satellite from a Chinese launch centre. As Ghebreyesus and Wang gushed back in 2014: “China and Ethiopia will continue to join hands to bring about an expanded and upgraded model of bilateral relations.” At Chatham House the following year, Ghebreyesus emphasised how his country would provide the “cheap labour” for China’s “going out” policy.
Small wonder, then, that when the top WHO job came up for grabs after the ousting of Hong Kong’s Margaret Chan in 2017, the Chinese vigorously pushed the Ethiopian. With Donald Trump threatening to withdraw all funding and already behind with annual subs, making the WHO increasingly reliant on Chinese money, Beijing will always have a friend in Ghebreyesus.
www.private-eye.co.uk/news
The Belt and Road isn't just about resources and trade, it's about [soft to hard] power.
And using it.
On a visit to Beijing (but conspicuously not Wuhan) at the end of January, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, hosted by Chinese president Xi Jinping and foreign minister Wang Yi, lauded the country’s “new standard for outbreak response”. But then Ghebreyesus has been on good terms with the Chinese hierarchy for some time.
As a senior Ethiopian government figure, first as health minister (2005-12) and then foreign minister (2012-16), he was a key member of a regime that courted Beijing as ardently as any other country. The result is that China now provides 60 percent of investment in Ethiopia. In return, Ethiopia is now the east African node of China’s “belt and road”, handy for the Red Sea ports of Djibouti via Chinese-built railways, and from there the Suez Canal to the north.
Mega projects
When Wang Yi visited Addis Ababa in 2014, he and Ghebreyesus released a joint statement celebrating how “between 2003 and 2013, the yearly volume of bilateral trade between China and Ethiopia increased by more than 13 times. China has become the biggest foreign investor and the largest trading partner of Ethiopia… [and] has provided a large amount of financial support for the construction of a number of Ethiopia’s mega projects [including] the first Express Toll Way and the first operative Wind Power Plant, the Addis Ababa Light Track Railway and other modern railway developments as well as the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital and the Confucius Institute [Beijing’s well-known soft propaganda arm].”
Cheap labour
To these can now be added the 600-bed Addis Ababa Silk Road General Hospital and, while Ghebreyesus was going easy on China in December, the launching of Ethiopia’s first satellite from a Chinese launch centre. As Ghebreyesus and Wang gushed back in 2014: “China and Ethiopia will continue to join hands to bring about an expanded and upgraded model of bilateral relations.” At Chatham House the following year, Ghebreyesus emphasised how his country would provide the “cheap labour” for China’s “going out” policy.
Small wonder, then, that when the top WHO job came up for grabs after the ousting of Hong Kong’s Margaret Chan in 2017, the Chinese vigorously pushed the Ethiopian. With Donald Trump threatening to withdraw all funding and already behind with annual subs, making the WHO increasingly reliant on Chinese money, Beijing will always have a friend in Ghebreyesus.
www.private-eye.co.uk/news
The Belt and Road isn't just about resources and trade, it's about [soft to hard] power.
And using it.
