China's transformations comes with strong, unified work ethics: NSW parliament member

Shaoquett Moselmane is an assistant president with the New South Wales Parliament in Australia. He witnessed the establishment of Sister Cities between Rockdale in the Greater Sydney area and Tanggu under the municipality of Tianjin over two decades ago.

He says he has seen "phenomenal" transformations in Tanggu and Tianjin. CRI's Fei Fei brings his story with China.

Shaoquett Moselmane photographed here with a banner reads “Contribution of a warm heart, Care for children” from the Shanghai Charity Foundation. [Photo: China Plus]

Walking into Shaoquett Moselmane's office in downtown Sydney, you cannot miss a large red banner written in Chinese. It reads "Contribution of a warm heart, Care for children".

He said the banner was a gift from the Shanghai Charity Foundation for his donation of wheelchairs to children in need in China.

"That's very important to me. As you may know in recent times, I worked with many friends to raise funds to help disabled children. And we've sent many wheelchairs, not only to China, but other parts of the world. And now I'm creating an opportunity to build wheelchairs in China to distribute disabled children in China."

This banner is one of many China-related decorations Moselmane has in his office. From Chinese lacquerware displayed on his shelves to a wide selection of Chinese tea in his cabinet, Moselmane's interests in China are easily visible.

Many of these are gifted from his Chinese friends. Moselmane has not only been actively involved in the Chinese community in New South Wales but has also visited China close to 20 times.

His first trip to China was in 1997. As part of the Rockdale City Council delegation, he visited Tanggu under the northern city of Tianjin. The trip aimed to build a Sisters City relationship between Rockdale and Tanggu.

Two decades later, he visited Tanggu again and saw a major transformation.

"The whole of Tianjin region is transformed into a major metropolis and that's why it's fascinating. The local council (of Tanggu) what we visited was two floors. When we visited the next time, it was thirty floors. You know, and this is an entirely new building with a significant progress. It's great that the Chinese government is able to do in terms of looking after the health, education, welfare and living standards of people and particularly manufacturing and so forth."

He said that China's "phenomenal" changes are not just a miracle but was built with strong and unified work ethics of the Chinese people.

"The Chinese work ethics is I think the core of China's success. The people's work ethics is determined, hardworking and that is a chain right from the political leadership, to the working class, to the middle class to ever, and those who are now entrepreneurs that coming into trade and business."

Now working in the parliament of New South Wales, Moselmane is seeing the relationship between China and Australia gone beyond trade. In areas like education, cultures and tourism, exchanges are buzzing.

But at the same time, in recent years, the relationships between the two nations have hit bumps on the road. He stressed that it is important for China and Australia, both located in the Asia-Pacific region, to work together. And that requires mutual trust.

"That relationships can only grow, and all it needs is greater openness between the two parties to ensure that there is sense of distrust. Once that that distrust is eliminated. I think there would be a great future for both Australia and China."

He said communication is the way to eliminate distrusts between the two sides.

"I think maintaining an open communication line straight enough with diplomats and other Australian government so that that any move or anything that the Chinese does is not misinterpreted into as a threat or anything like that. I think it's that communication line between the two nations is critical in maintaining understanding."