FREETOWN, 26th May, (232News) – Chinese Ambassaodr in Sierra Leone Hu Zhangliang has appealed to the media to be fair and neutral in their reporting on the fish harbor and the Black Johnson site.
Talking to this medium, the Ambassador said since the report came out about the fish harbor that is to be built at Black Johnson, the Chinese have been at the center of the report branding them with all kinds of names and accusing them of wanting to destroy the country.
“I want to appeal to all please put aside geopolitics and western sentiments and the bias that some of you in the media have against China and look at the whole saga critically before blaming China. China has never asked the government for a piece of land to build a fish meal or a fish harbor anytime. We have enough fish harbor in China and we cannot come to Sierra Leone to build such for ourselves.”
Ambassador Hu said the fish harbor is just like all the other projects that they have aided Sierra Leone that nobody has ever complained about.
He said Sierra Leone government wanted a fish harbor and all what China did was to put the funds together and then asked the government to provide them the land where it should be built.
“Since 1971 when China started supporting Sierra Leone, at no time that the Chinese government has told the Sierra Leone government what they want or where the project will be built. We first built the stadium and the then government showed where they want it and we built it there. Presently, we are building a military accommodation and the Diplomatic Academy. Both grants just the Same for the fish harbor.”
The Ambassador said the land spaces for them were chosen by the government and the military and we accepted and currently the projects are on. He said there is no complain or skepticism of substandard work being done by us the Chinese, when they did not choose the site for these projects.
Amb. Hu Zhangliang said it is the same way that the government chose the Black Johnson parcel of land for them to build the fish harbor and that the report is being slanted that China wants to destroy the area.
“Please it would be nice for my friends in the media to investigate and ask the appropriate authorities why they chose Black Johnson for the project and whether the project belongs to China. We are just providing the facility for the government as we have been doing for 50 years that has never has any complaints. The Youyi building, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jui hospital, Jui lab, and many more were all built by China as grants and the parcel of land were marked by the government and we came in and built the structures. So what is the difference today that we are being accused of wanting to destroy Black Johnson for our personal gains?”
He called on all to direct their grievances towards the government rather than the Chinese that are merely helping and supporting Sierra Leone.
He called on all to stop vilifying China for merely supporting development in Sierra Leone and also made it very clear that all the projects they have done in Sierra Leone are the same standard in China.
Ambassador Hu averred that the stadium and Youyi building, the Mange Bridge that were built decades ago are still in full operations and there has never been any building default for them to be demolished.
“I do hope my friends in the media will look at China for what we are than using geopolitics and Chinese bias because of the West to judge us because we are genuine friends to Sierra Leone and Africa.”
