OPINION> Brendan John Worrell
|
OPINION> Brendan John Worrell
|
|
Polish PM wraps up China tour
By Brendan J. Worrell (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-26 20:46 Though still not even a full year yet into his post, Poland's 51 year old Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has already begun to turn heads having just completed a four day visit to China. Here in Beijing on the side of the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting he held a press conference at the Polish Embassy Friday morning. Historians note his country was one of the first to recognize the founding of the People's Republic of China 59 years ago. So far his predecessor's willingness to engage NATO has been reversed with Tusk earlier signaling to pull Polish troops out of Iraq by the end of October. Twenty-two of his country's soldiers gave their lives, plus several security guards, two journalists and a Government Protection Bureau officer.
Last week the Warsaw Business Journal ran a stinging piece titled "Mission Accomplished?" quoting the president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce in reference to the economic attainments Poland had received for its participation in the War in Iraq, which he termed "a catastrophe." The article also quoted Defense Minister Klich who told Polish soldiers in September, "… in the fields of economy, trade, economic ties and financial cooperation, Poland has seen no benefit from its great effort." Cynics mused whether energy hungry Poland, who derives 95% of her energy needs from coal, was expecting or promised some oil contracts. Before the current financial crisis Alan Greenspan wrote, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil". Tellingly Tusk has set a new direction for his nation's compass seeking better relations with EU member states, particularly neighboring Germany but also more importantly, Russia. As for the latter this will require more concerted effort. Moves in August which will allow the installation of US missiles on Polish soil were not appreciated by senior Russian Defense officials and Tusk will need to do more to assuage Moscow that Poland is not a pawn in some US retro Cold War game. Why and how Germany and other European nations are able to broker oil and gas deals with the energy giant while Poland at present cannot needs to be better understood – by this author at least. These are tall tasks for Tusk. At present he has his hands full trying to get his nation to address EU cuts in carbon emissions while at the same time battling to better define and illustrate the complexities involved in emissions trading. He mentioned climate protection and ensuing deterioration had the most impact on poorer countries asking that we learn how to cooperate saying this challenge was the ‘quintessence of global solidarity' and that an ‘investment in climate protection was an investment in civilization' – though noting the policy framework must be flexible otherwise those who are poor will never join. Other items on his to-do list involve working towards the establishment of e-government, of which he has sought the counsel of Singapore and greater internet connectivity and penetration rates among his populace – in which he has called out for prospective partners. Like China, Poland also has a large agricultural population and movements into urban areas concern Tusk as he seeks to ensure more livable urban habitats. Achievements of which he can take part credit in are the continuing strength of the Polish economy, which compared to nearby Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia and Iceland, is exceedingly healthy. Unemployment had dropped a whopping 50% and today hovers around 9%, better than some other EU member states. Tusk also spoke of recent infrastructure investment regarding construction and railways and how the promise of high salaries was now seeing Poland becoming a country of destination for workers, previously almost one million mostly young Poles had migrated to better paying EU member nations for work purposes and this trend was in reverse. For China he mentioned visa facilitation for Chinese wishing to set up shop in Poland was also being tackled and how next year in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China a year of activities would be staged in his country. In addition he promised a great Polish presence at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. He also praised China saying he was "impressed by the civilization, hospitality and warm heartedness". His breakthrough trip marked the first visit by a Polish leader to China in over fourteen years. Contact the author: brendanjohnworrell@hotmail.com |
