News

China is not taking over Kadavu: AG

October 17, 2018 6:49 pm

It’s legally impossible for a nation to take over another country.

This was reiterated by Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum during a talanoa session with Fiji Ports Terminal Limited employees this week.

Sayed-Khaiyum was asked to clarify this by a Fiji Ports staff about Kadavu being taken over by the Chinese government during their bonus pay-out earlier this week.

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Sayed-Khaiyum clarified these are rumors being spread on social media.

He says it doesn’t matter how much Fiji has been borrowed from donors, no one can take over or control any government.

“See when we borrow from the Chinese government or the World Bank or ADB, we don’t say to the Chinese – okay if we don’t pay the loan you can take over this. That’s what we call mortgage. We just say we are a country, we have the capacity to pay and whether you can lend the money or no.”

Sayed-Khaiyum has confirmed Fiji’s total debt is about five point one billion dollars.