Haiti relief missions

AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
China denies rescuers in Haiti only looking for Chinese
Tue Jan 19, 8:08 pm ET

BEIJING (AFP) – China angrily denied accusations that its rescue team in Haiti was only searching for Chinese nationals missing after last week's devastating earthquake.

"Concerning the comments that Chinese rescuers only rescue Chinese, these comments are false and are made out of ulterior motives," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.

"The Chinese rescue team departed China immediately after the quake. They not only found the bodies of the Chinese peacekeepers, they also found the bodies of UN officers in Haiti and many others."

The 60-strong Chinese medical team in Haiti has already treated more than 200 locals and China has air-lifted rescue supplies and aid to the devastated country, he said.

"These actions are not selfish and brook no accusations. The accusers should be accused," Ma said, after media reports about China's contribution to the humanitarian operation in Haiti.

"Our rescue team and Chinese peacekeepers have made a great contribution to the relief efforts. We have won high appraisal from relevant parties, including the secretary general of the United Nations."

Tens of thousands were killed in the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti on January 12, with an estimated quarter of a million injured and 1.5 million left homeless.

Ma said China would consider a UN request for nations to help provide an additional 3,500 peacekeepers to help maintain order in Haiti, but made no firm commitment.

The bodies of eight Chinese nationals killed in the quake were repatriated Tuesday with great pomp and circumstance including a procession down the Avenue of Heavenly Peace, the capital's main thoroughfare, past Tiananmen Square.

"They sacrificed their lives for the maintenance of peace. Here I would like to express deep condolences," said Ma of the eight security officers, four of whom were serving as peacekeepers in Haiti.

A state funeral was to be held for the eight quake victims on Wednesday at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing.


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I think there should be a revolution against the mainstream news media for their consistent shoddy reporting. I haven't been really reading anything in-depth about the Haiti situation so I've been only getting what's superfically on TV. Didn't know all this finger-pointing has been going on between countries contributing relief. Now the above story makes sense. The Chinese have to be worse of course by singling them out of context. Since China was the first major nation to land a rescue team, I'm sure they didn't know much of anything of the status of their comrades at the time. So I don't think they can be accused of thinking about their own first. I especially like the part where they accuse China of over-blowing back at home the worthless lives of the Chinese UN Peacekeepers who died. Like they're not notorious for doing that when their people die especially when their own journalists die while on the job? This morning I read about cruise ships docking as business as usual in Haiti but exploiting this tragedy as a tourist attraction. Then it came out that these ships were actually dropping off aid and food supplies and making sure the locals that normally work for them were taken care of. Great job stalwarts of journalistic integrity.
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
What else is new? Not one 'mainstream' western news agency have reported anything abt the chinese team being first on the ground or even that there are chinese teams there at all. You can be sure that if the locations were reversed and an american team was on mission in a country on china's doorstep before a chinese team, the western media will not let anyone forget it.

And am i the only one who is outraged by the legion of reporters and support personnel who seemed to have got priority to get into the country all doing the same job a handful could have done perfectly well when desperately needed supplies, equipment and specialist are being turned away or diverted by the planeload? Most of these people are literally a pointless waste of space that has, and is continuing to cost limbs and lives.
 
vesicles

vesicles

Colonel
So the airport has only one landing strip? That sort of explains why many planes are being diverted to elsewhere...
 
bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Great discussion guys..

I agree with most of what is posted in the last few post.

Another problem with the airport was that the control tower was rendered inoperative as the earthquake hit. Along with that all the power was lost at the airport. Hard to land at night when you can't see the runway.

The country is a logistical nightmare. Haiti has very poor infrastructure. Very poor. This is one reason so much needed supplies has piled up at the airport..the other as I mentioned before is security.
 
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EdT586

Junior Member
There is really something going on that has pissed off China who normally hold the higher moral grounds and not get into the mud slinging that US media likes to play.

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Weighing U.S. and China's responses to Haiti earthquake

"Some foreign news agencies, including the AFP, reported that it was the Chinese rescuers, not the Americans, who were among the first relief personnel to arrive in the Caribbean country, even though China is farther away from Haiti than the U.S.

However, the U.S. administration succeeded in saving its reputation and even overshadowing the Chinese contributions thanks to its sophisticated public relations abilities, an area in which China is far behind."
 
ABC78

ABC78

Junior Member
AssassinsMace said:
I think there should be a revolution against the mainstream news media for their consistent shoddy reporting. I haven't been really reading anything in-depth about the Haiti situation so I've been only getting what's superfically on TV. Didn't know all this finger-pointing has been going on between countries contributing relief. Now the above story makes sense. The Chinese have to be worse of course by singling them out of context. Since China was the first major nation to land a rescue team, I'm sure they didn't know much of anything of the status of their comrades at the time. So I don't think they can be accused of thinking about their own first. I especially like the part where they accuse China of over-blowing back at home the worthless lives of the Chinese UN Peacekeepers who died. Like they're not notorious for doing that when their people die especially when their own journalists die while on the job? This morning I read about cruise ships docking as business as usual in Haiti but exploiting this tragedy as a tourist attraction. Then it came out that these ships were actually dropping off aid and food supplies and making sure the locals that normally work for them were taken care of. Great job stalwarts of journalistic integrity.
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I also saw this article on the original site and thought it was also BS. According this article's author the Chinese aren't helping anyone but themselves in Haiti. I guess then the videos of the Chinese relief team helping Haitians are fake. This is why I watch Blue Ocean Network News for my independent news on China.

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D

digital_desire

Just Hatched
Registered Member
The apparent main reason why Haiti still lives in poverty... They were forced to take a loan.

In 1825 Haiti never should have had to pay France $21 billion (in 2004
dollars) to compensate French slave-holders for their loss of property
(now free Haitians). This debt, paid under threat of invasion and
exclusion from international commerce, took Haiti 120 years to repay.

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Incredible... I have had it with all the stories of how Western countries have forced loans down the throats of other countries (with the threat of military action if they refuse to take the loan). Makes me think that this is the main reason why there is poverty on the planet and why there exist such thing as a third world.

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Mcsweeney

Junior Member
The funniest thing the media do to play up the China Threat is to bring up how "alarming" it is that China is increasing their military budget by 10% every year. Of course they don't bother mentioning that China's economy is also growing by ... 10% every year! What are they supposed to do, give the military a flat sum of money every single year?

"Everyone, I just want you to know that our GDP has increased 14fold in the last 32 years, but there's nothing to fear! Our military budget is still $2.5 billion, just like it was in 1978!"
 
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