The man behind a USD 260 million (EUR 233.5 million) planned fishing port and processing park in East Timor has been recognized as one of China’s leading economic figures at an annual awards ceremony for “China’s Most Influential Economic Personalities in 2019” held in Beijing recently.
Ma Yi Xin, the general manager of Guangxi Yi Xin Fishery Development Co., has secured approval from the East Timorese government to build the Timor-Leste Manatuto Laleia Dare Anan Fishery Aquatic Park (also known in Mandarin as the East Timor China Qinzhou Manatu Fishing Port and Seafood Park). Ma, whose company specializes in logistics and equipment for the fishing and aquaculture sectors, has also received the required Chinese government approval for the project, which is now at the financing stage, according to documents submitted to China’s Commerce Ministry and the Ocean Administration of China.
In his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, hosted by the Capital University of Economics and Trade, Ma credited the Chinese government’s strategy to make China an “ocean-strong country” and the Belt and Road Initiative with spurring him to look at East Timor – where, he added, “fishing resources are abundant.”
In recent years, several Chinese fishing firms have sought to expand operations in East Timor, an island country between Indonesia and northern Australia. Numerous infrastructure projects – including an overhaul of the national grid – have been carried out by Chinese firms, some financed by loans from Chinese state lenders.
Despite having a relatively small population of 1.5 million and a ranking as one of Asia's lowest-income nations, the Chinese government has identified East Timor as an important part of its Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s blueprint to integrate the larger region into its own economy through infrastructure links.
Last year, China’s top fisheries official promised the fisheries minister of East Timor Chinese investment and cooperation in developing seafood processing and logistics facilities. Yu Kangzhen, China’s vice minister for agriculture (who oversees fisheries and aquaculture), told East Timor Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Joaquim José Gusmão Dos Reis Martins that China wanted to further assist East Timor with construction of cold-chain logistics and processing facilities.
Among the Chinese fishery firms active in East Timor, Fujian-based Pingtan Marine has 13 fishing boats operating in East Timorese waters. In 2017, it was accused of having illegally caught large numbers of sharks in East Timor’s waters. The fleet was operated by Hong Long Fisheries, the same owners of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, which was later seized by Ecuadorian authorities for shark-finning in the protected waters around the Galapagos Islands.
East Timor’s is seeking to expand tilapia farming in order to hit an ultimate goal of upping aquaculture output to 12,000 tons by 2030. It’s “National Aquaculture Development Strategy (2012-2030)” outlines that strategy, saying it will also help it battle widespread malnutrition by increasing per capita consumption of fish from 6.1 to 15 kilograms.
Photo courtesy of Jack Nugent/Shutterstock
