IT’S A WIN-WIN WITH CHINA
…China can never declare us bankrupt – Dr Fred M’membe
By Kombe Mataka/ The Mast
IF WE were only in debt with China, we would go to sleep without worry, says Socialist Party president Fred M’membe.
Dr M’membe said when he appeared on activist News Network Programme that it was debt from the Western allies that was posing a threat to the country because Zambia had a more beneficial relationship with China than what he termed as “imperialists”.
“If we were only indebted to China we would go to sleep without worry. The pressure that is there is the Euro bond we owe it is the debt that we have with the Westerners. China can never declare us bankrupt. The threat is from the Western institutions we owe,” he said.
“They (West) want to put all the burden on China and put more conditionalities of lending more money on what we do with China. Trying to blackmail China into changing its debt condition agreements with us and in many respects. China has cooperated to ensure the burden on us is lessened. China is not an imperial country. China has never threatened our sovereignty.”
Dr M’membe claimed that Western allies were manipulating countries in which they had an interest.
“It is them who have robbed us for centuries. They have dehumanised us. Today they want to pose as liberators? We are not fools. They want to create a fear among us of China but we have a win-win relationship with China. Yes, there is also bad behaviour among some foreign Chinese capitalist but that is not the state policy of China. The US itself is a beneficiary from Chinese progress. They are doing business with China. They have borrowed money from China and they want us to fear China! It won’t happen. We are not fools,” he said.
“China is trying to advance its economic interests, it is trying to build an economy. We have a more beneficial relationship with China than we had with these imperialists. Yes, we owe China, but doesn’t the US owe China? The US owes China more money than any other country in the world. The US is more indebted to China than any other country in the world. Is China going to colonise the US? No!”
On the Ukraine war, Dr M’membe said Russia’s reaction was legitimate.
“It is not a conflict Russia went into willingly, but it was a last resort. We don’t want wars. We wish that conflict could have been resolved peacefully. We still even wish up to now that war stops tomorrow and the issue resolved peacefully. We don’t want a world of wars. But here is a country that has got more [military] bases beyond its borders than any other country in the world. They have bases littered all over the world than any other country. Who is threatening them? Russia is not much more of a threat than US is a threat to Russia. Russia doesn’t have bases all over. It does not have bases all over. It does not have troops stationed in so many countries. There are no foreign troops stationed near USA or bases near the USA. None. Yes, we respect the right of the USA to defend itself but also they should respect the rights of others to defend themselves. The concerns about the security of the USA are the concerns about the security in every country, big or small,” he said.
“Let the US secure itself but it also must allow others to secure themselves. We are saying the war in Ukraine has been caused by the USA and NATO and they are responsible for that. They left Russia with no options. NATO today cannot hide its intentions. NATO and the US are the same. NATO was started by the US in 1949 as a way to try and use Europe to advance America’s interests. They have succeeded in that. We have seen NATO now being used in other countries. In Afghanistan, NATO went into Libya, beyond its original intentions. NATO is involving itself in wars that have nothing to do with threat on Europe.”
Dr M’membe accused the US of causing instability.
“NATO members are setting up bases all over the world including Africa. Today we have the issue of AFRICOM. The can reach any country in Africa within five minutes. They have the biggest drone base in West Africa. They are trying to militarise everything and weaponise everything. International relations today are being weaponised,” he noted.
Dr M’membe said another cold war was imminent.
“We have lived under a Cold War before. We lived in a bipolar world. We thought it was bad. Today, we are living in a unipolar world. It is worse. Yes, they have set up an office here (Zambia). We can cooperate with the US in many things. No country can tackle its own problems by itself, not even the USA itself. But not in this way. We know where the US has had bases or military presence there have been problems,” he said.
Dr M’membe said the US had interests in Zambia’s strategic mineral reserves.
“Zambia and DRC hold 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt reserves. We have copper which is one of the strategic minerals for future technologies especially electric cars. They understand why they want their troops here,” said Dr M’membe.