Chinese Officials and Environmentalists Exchange Fire Over That Controversial Fish Port in Sierra Leone

China’s ambassador to Sierra Leone, Hu Zhangliang, paid a visit on Monday to the Foreign Ministry to rally support with the government for a controversial development project to build a fish port in the environmentally pristine Black Johnson beach area. After the meeting, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mamadi Gobeh Kamara reportedly gave her blessing to the project, according to Xinhua.

A full week after the project was revealed, China is still facing steadily mounting criticism from environmental activists who contend the proposed port would be “hugely damaging to the environment.” 

The Chinese embassy, as is customary, dismissed those concerns as “completely sensational and hypothetical.”

Here’s What Both Sides Are Saying About the Project:

  • ENVIRONMENTALISTS: “Industrial fishmeal production is hugely damaging to the environment, as the factories discharge toxic chemicals, destroy fish breeding grounds, and decimate fish stocks for local fishermen… “We are also calling for a judicial review and independent inquiry into this deal with the Chinese, [as] turning fish into fish meal for export to feed pigs is not in the public interest” — Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ)
  • THE CHINESE EMBASSY: “[Foreign media have published] false reports on the China-aid fish harbor project for Sierra Leone on the basis of some unfounded social media news… [This is] a Sierra Leonean project, rather than a Chinese one… [critics want to] hinder the implementation of the project and thus hinder the economic and social development of Sierra Leone” — Du Zijun, economic and commercial counselor

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The post Chinese Officials and Environmentalists Exchange Fire Over That Controversial Fish Port in Sierra Leone appeared first on The China Africa Project.



source https://chinaafricaproject.com/2021/05/25/chinese-officials-and-environmentalists-exchange-fire-over-that-controversial-fish-port-in-sierra-leone/

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