... Allegations were not new – Bunting
IN HIS late-afternoon response to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, opposition Member of Parliament Peter Bunting stated that it was highly unlikely that his video posting would place Chinese nationals at risk in Jamaica, but added that the concerns that arise from the existing situation could be problematic if left unaddressed.
Yesterday, the embassy issued a press release expressing concerns about assertions Bunting made via a video clip titled ‘Chinese Take Over?’, which was uploaded to social media on Tuesday. Bunting is the host of the online current affairs programme, ‘Probe’.
“There were no new allegations contained in the episode of ‘Probe’, but merely a collection of concerns previously aired by either members of the Master Builders Association or, indeed, Mr Clifton Yap, who is chairman of the Jamaican Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows,” Bunting said in the statement.
“I hope this marks the beginning of a necessary public debate on the appropriate level of engagement by foreign governments (or their state-owned enterprises), around which a national consensus can be forged.”
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness publicly addressed concerns about the heightened investments by Chinese nationals locally.
“As China develops and attains First-World standard, which they will do within a generation, so, too, Jamaica wants to develop and attain First-World standards, and we can’t do it by shutting off ourselves from the world. We can only do it by integrating ourselves and making ourselves a critical element and node in the world economy, and that is what we are doing,” said Holness.