On January 31, Malta marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with China. I think that on this anniversary we should give credit to Dom Mintoff who had the vision and the courage to visit China in April 1972.
(Mao Tse Tung) promised... that China... would help Malta in its quest to wrestle away from the economic grip the western countries had on it- Reno Calleja
In February 1972, US President Richard Nixon made history when he visited China with Henry Kissinger. The Chinese gave Mr Nixon a measured but warm reception. He was not even sure whether Mao Tse Tung would see him. In the end, Mao received Mr Nixon with the warmth and hospitality so characteristic of the Chinese.
Two months later, Mr Mintoff shocked the world when he became the first Western European Prime Minister to visit China after it was accepted as a full member of the United Nations.
That was vintage Mintoff who was a genius at outflanking his opponents.
When Mr Mintoff landed in China, the Chinese gave him a welcome greater than they gave President Nixon. Thousands of children, students and workers lined up the streets from the airport to the Chinese capital. They wanted to convey a message. They wanted to show the world that they admired this diminutive man from Malta who was resisting the Soviet Union and the United States with his declared aim to make Malta a neutral and non-aligned country.
That did not fit in the dirty game the two superpowers were playing.
The Americans viewed Mr Mintoff with suspicion. He was not exactly the darling of the Soviets either. Indeed, a Russian journalist once told me that the Soviet Foreign Minister of the time, Andrei Gromyko, regarded Mr Mintoff with disdain. He used to call him the barnacle.
A few months after he was elected Premier, in June l971, while negotiating with British Secretary of State Peter Carrington about the signing of a new defence treaty with the UK, Mr Mintoff sent his private secretary, Joe Camilleri, and the Maltese Ambassador to Rome, Carmel Mallia, to speak to the Chinese Ambassador in Italy. They informed him that Malta wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Red China and the Prime Minister would like to visit the country.
The Chinese Ambassador was frank. Malta should first break its diplomatic relations that the Nationalist government had established with Taiwan. When Mr Camilleri reported this to Mr Mintoff, he immediately sent for the Taiwanese Ambassador and, thanking him for his services, asked him to pack his bags and leave.
Mao knew this and received Mr Mintoff warmly. He promised him that China, despite being a poor country at the time, would help Malta in its quest to wrestle away from the economic grip the western countries had on it.
Indeed, the largest two construction projects ever undertaken by Malta – the Red China Dock and the Marsaxlokk freeport project – where realised with the help of hundreds of Chinese workers and with financial assistance from this great country.
In Malta, Mr Mintoff was demonised by the conservative press for establishing diplomatic relations with Red China. The conservative press depicted the Chinese people like weather-beaten slugs. Fear was instilled in the Maltese people that because China had lost Albania, it wanted to turn Malta into a base.
That was one of the reasons I decided to set up the Malta-China Friendship Society. I was working as a reporter with l-Orizzont and I floated the idea to Charles Mizzi, my news editor. That evening, I, Mr Mizzi, Richard Matrenza, Ġiġi Gauci and Andrew Sultana , a teacher from St Julians, met and set up the first provisional committee.
In December 1978, the Communist Party Congress, under the leadership of the reformer Deng Xiaoping, decided to forget the rigid, central economic system and open up the country for massive direct foreign investment. This momentous decision set the stage for the gargantuan capital infusion that has transformed China from a poverty-stricken country into the second largest economy in the world, overtaking Japan.
The Communist Party, still reeling from what happened under the Gang of Four, imposed a rule that no Prime Minister can serve for more than two terms.
China’s economy today is worth $5.8 trillion. Within a few decades it will surpass that of the United States and some political analysts argue that this will have political, social, cultural and psychological consequences.
This is not just the United States supplanting Great Britain, its Anglo-Saxon imperial power. This time, the changing of the guard will have a much more profound effect. For the first time in hundreds of years, the white race, always depicted as superior to other races, will have to come to terms with the reality that a different race is taking over.
A former Minister of Tourism, the author is president of the Malta-China Friendship Society and secretary general of the Maltese-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.