United States wary of China's growing power - Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has in a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi-Ting Wang, stated that the United States is wary of the growing economic power of China hence the heightened trade war with the Asian giant.

“The bullish and military behaviour of the West came as no surprise because it was obvious it was going to lose the technological domination of the world,” he said.

Former President Rawlings said in the midst of that bullish behaviour the United States then unleashed the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) on former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter.

The former President said America’s moral authority has been on a very serious decline and has led to unstable situations around the globe. He was optimistic that China will grow from strength to strength to bring back the balance of global bipolar authority.

At the meeting last Tuesday, Flt Lt Rawlings said China’s democratic practice has proven to be far more superior. “The Western political system has not given us the best. It has rather brought the worst out of us,” he stated.

The former President praised China for staying strong and committed to her beliefs and urged the country to remain strong for humanity. He thanked China for its continued support to Africa and urged Ambassador Wang to acquaint himself with the political developments in Ghana over the past 30 years and discern matters for himself.

“Politics has become seriously monetized and affected the quality of democracy. We must contribute our efforts to contain corruption otherwise it will undermine our development efforts,” former President Rawlings said.

Ambassador Wang who was paying his first courtesy call on the former President, said China’s contribution to Africa’s growth was monumental and compared it to the West which had been in Africa for centuries but had done less.

“China supported the fight for Africa’s political liberation and today we are supporting Africa economically through huge infrastructure development,” Ambassador Wang added.

The Chinese Ambassador described the trade war and targeting of Chinese technological giant, Huawei, as politically motivated. He said China had been trading with the United States based on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules which were effectively set by the United States. He said the spying charges against Huawei were preposterous because Edward Snowden had already exposed who is spying on who.

“It’s all about Huawei taking the lead in 5G technology. They can’t stop us technologically so they have to confront us administratively. We will stand up to them. China does not want war but China is not afraid of war.

If we remain strong Africa will remain strong and Ghana will remain strong,” the Ambassador stated.

Earlier Ambassador Wang had touted China’s strong relations with Ghana spanning over 60 years and commended former President Rawlings’ strong role in consolidating that relationship during his tenure as President and afterwards.

Ambassador Wang who until his appointment to Ghana was based in Malawi, said Ghana was a peaceful and stable country with very kind people. He said China valued its political and economic relationship with Ghana and was hopeful that will continue to be strengthened.