Chinese investors ask for more security

Councillor in the Economic and Commercial office of the Embassy of the Peoples’ Republic of China, Wang Jiaxin Hudson says government must protect all investors, including the Chinese because the country cannot improve its economy if security is compromised.

Speaking in an interview in Lilongwe, Wang said the past year alone saw about eight Chinese investors, including doctors, being targeted by robbers and their valuables being confiscated.

According to Wang, the latest incident saw a group of gun wielding robbers besiege the China Gansu Engineering Corporation Limited in Nyambadwe, Blantyre where they stole borehore drilling equipment, pumps, cellphones, laptops and some cash.

The company has been in the country as part of the Chinese Aid’s drilling boreholes project.

Said Wang: “We are very sad with the increased incidences of robberies affecting the Chinese nationals. The deteriorating security in Malawi will completely erode the confidence of many investors and at the end of the day the robbers are ruining the future of the Malawi nation.”

He said the robbers are not only destroying Malawi but also hampering the country’s economic growth because investors shun insecure countries.

“There are several Chinese investors who are interested to come to Malawi to invest in mining, agriculture and manufacturing and if we tell them that there is insecurity, will they come? But we cannot tell them that Malawi is not safe because we want this relationship to be a win- win one,” Wang said.

He also commended the police for cracking down on robbers through the recent inter agency operation that saw the Malawi Police, Immigration and Malawi Defence Force blanketing major towns and cities to root out criminals.

“On our part, we say that was very good but more needs to be done to make sure that Malawi is safe not only for foreigners, but even for the indigenous people. As China, we will continue working with the country’s security agents to make sure that we have a better and secure country for us and our children as well,” he said.

National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo said investigations into the attack of the Chinese nationals are still going on.

“We are asking Malawians to help the police track these criminals because we cannot work in isolation. We will always do our best to make sure that Malawians as well as their property is protected all the time. Our plea as a police is that Malawians out there must also be our eyes and ears,” said Manjolo.

This is the second time that China Gansu has been attacked by armed robbers in two years.

In Lilongwe, robbers also attacked the Golden Peacock Shopping Mall twice within eight months. The mall also belongs to Chinese investors.