Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Mr Hubert Hughes, under whose Ministry a number of Chinese businesses are continuing to be established and expanded on the island, expressed his views about the matter on Monday, this week.
He was at the time delivering remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day School Leavers’ Workshop held by the Careers and Guidance Unit of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School in conjunction with the Labour Department.
“I am very concerned about what is happening in the field of labour in Anguilla because too many work permits come to me for signature, and especially the Chinese establishments in this island,” he said. “As I say, I am very concerned about the Chinese. I believe that they are very aggressive; I believe they are very ‘indiscretionate’; they are far too conservative and, I would say, discriminating. I don’t think that Anguillians should accept a foreign element discriminating in Anguilla. They discriminate in favour of their own people.”
Mr Hughes stated that while Chinese businessmen were permitted to do business in a place like Barbados, “their employees must be Barbadian.” He went on: “I am free to say…I play a political role and I live and die by what I do and what I say. As far as I am concerned, I am totally opposed to the idea that the Chinese must bring their labour from China. I am totally opposed to it…
“Apart from being Minister of Labour, I am also Minister of Economic Development and Minister of Finance. I have a clear vision of what is true economics. Economics has to do with the country benefitting – Anguilla benefitting, the people of Anguilla benefitting. When you earn money in Anguilla, it stays in Anguilla – it circulates in Anguilla; it develops entrepreneurship in Anguilla; and that’s why we need to ensure that too much of the money that people earn, as workers, are not syphoned away by the Chinese and sent back to China. That is what exactly is happening, so I am not very happy about it.”
Chinese business persons began investing in Anguilla in partnerships with Anguillians several years ago, but are now allegedly securing their own properties and businesses on the island. Their investments are in the area of supermarkets, restaurants and hardware establishments across the island.
