First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei-Owusu has appealed to the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohung to help remove Chinese national involved in illegal mining activities in the country.

The Member of Parliament for Bekwai Constituency bemoaned the involvement of Chinese nationals in businesses and other activities which have been restricted to Ghanaians.

He pointed out that the illegal Chinese mining activities have resulted in violent and bloody clashes which are “embarrassing considering the relationship between Ghana and China”.

At a courtesy call by the Chinese Ambassador on the two Deputy Speakers of Parliament on Monday, April 9, Mr Osei-Owusu said: “In my constituency there are a lot of Chinese firms, many, in my constituency. They sell equipment for mining. That is how it started; it was very welcoming now they have gone beyond selling and they are participating in the mining itself [and] that is the part that has become the concern and indeed we will count on you to advise your successor to assist us to remove your people from areas they are not permitted to be”.

He lamented the pollution and environmental degradation caused by the Chinese adding “all water bodies appear to have been affected and if you go into it you will find that there are Chinese nationals involved in the degradation and damage to our water bodies”.

For him, the Chinese Ambassador is key to the fight against illegal mining and he wants her to ensure that they do their part so that recalcitrant Chinese national are dealt with without and detrimental effects to law abiding Chinese national living in Ghana.

Mr Osei-Owusu also urged that Chinesed Ambassador to address difficulties in acquiring visa to China as he indicated that acquisition of documents to travel to China has been challenging.

On her part, Ms Baohung said they “never accept agents” because “agents here tend to be a bit irresponsible and present a lot of fake materials to the embassy that really bother us”.

She said the processes is simple and the requirements are available on the Chinese embassy’s website for the various types of visas after which one can visit the visa section directly and if there are any malpractices at the embassy applicants should report it directly to the officials in charge.

She said the volume of visas issued to Ghanaian applicants in last year increased by 30 percent “so it is not that we are tightening controls”.

On the illegal mining she said the Chinese government has made it clear that the support government’s fight against illegal mining adding “we oppose any Chinese nationals being involved in illegal mining”.

She indicated that illegal activities of some few Chinese nationals “undermine the overall interest of the Chinese national and also the image of China so we fully support your law enforcement actually in this regard”.