Negotiating with China is “worse than the IMF,” Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday after rejecting China’s conditions for a US$1.7 billion loan to build a hydroelectric plant.
In his weekly report on government activities, Correa said some of the conditions China’s Eximbank required for the loan were “really a threat against our sovereignty.”
“All of a sudden, negotiating with China is worse than the IMF,” he said.
The leftist leader’s comments came after both countries signed US$4.7 billion in cooperation agreements last month during a visit to the country by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The loan Correa railed about concerned an agreement with China’s Sinohydro company to build a US$1.97 billion hydroelectric plant in Ecuador, for which he is seeking 85 percent financing from Eximbank.
Correa had already complained on Tuesday about Eximbank’s demand that Ecuador’s central bank “put its assets up as collateral” for the loan, which he deemed “outrageous.”
If Eximbank did not change its loan conditions, he warned that Ecuador would rethink its China policy.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said negotiations on the hydroelectric plant were continuing and that she had forwarded Eximbank the loan conditions Ecuador was willing to accept for the loan.
Correa earlier this year complained about the stringent conditions the IMF imposed in exchange for loans, and called for a regional Latin American monetary system in order to “become the owners of our own destinies.”
The cooperation agreements signed last week included a US$1.4 million donation and two lines of credit: one for US$2.9 million payable within 10 years and another for US$438 million to buy four Chinese military planes for Ecuador’s air force.
The two countries also signed a joint oil exploration venture in Ecuador’s eastern Pastaza province.
Beijing’s direct investment in Ecuador has reached US$2.2 billion, making it one of the top targets of Chinese investment in Latin America, Jia told reporters at the close of his visit.
Trade between the two countries reached US$2.4 billion last year, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, he said.
In related news, oil companies operating in Ecuador have until March to sign new contracts or the government will “change the rules of the game” to give the state more control over the sector, Correa said on Saturday.
The socialist leader was first elected in 2006 on promises of helping the poor and taking a tough stance with international investors who he accuses of pillaging the country’s wealth.
Correa’s rhetoric has toughened as the negotiation of contracts approaches. But he apparently does not want to go so far as to choke off the private investment that his OPEC-member country needs to bolster its key oil sector.
“Either they sign the new contracts by March or we are going to change the rules of the game and the relationship between the companies and the state,” Correa said during a televised town hall meeting.
“I will meet with the companies and we are going to speak plainly. They will invest or leave the country,” he said.
Private firms — such as Spain’s Repsol, Brazil’s Petrobras and Italy’s Eni — are expected by the government to produce 195,342 barrels of oil per day next year, down from 201,369 barrels per day this year.
Correa wants them to give up their profit-sharing deals and sign new contracts that would make them service providers.
His relationship with the private sector hit a low point last year when Correa refused to honor US$3.2 billion in global bonds, even though the government had the money to pay. Investment has also been slowed by the world financial crisis.
The president sides with indigenous groups that have brought a US$27 billion environmental damages lawsuit against US petroleum company Chevron Corp, which no longer has operations in the Andean country.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘COINCIDENCE’: The former president should keep in mind local and global response to his actions and abide by the law to safeguard national interests, the MAC said The Presidential Office yesterday confirmed that it has received an application from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to visit China next week and would be discussing his security detail. “As the travel restrictions on former president Ma have expired, we respect his plan to pay respect to his ancestors in China,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said. “We will review his travel plan and consult concerned agencies to assist him in arranging his security detail.” “We also hope that Ma, as a former commander in chief of Taiwan, acts in a manner that aligns with national interests and does not hurt
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
‘NOTHING NEW’: China should not use Tsai Ing-wen’s transits through the US as a pretext to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait, a Washington official said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to stop over in the US on her way to and from Central America next week, but her administration would not confirm a meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Tsai’s delegation is to leave Taipei on Wednesday next week and stop over in New York City, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) told a news conference yesterday. Tsai is then to head to Guatemala on Saturday next week for talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and to meet with Taiwanese expatriates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. On April 3, Tsai is scheduled to travel
RSS