Sino-Caribbean relations: Priorities and tradeoffs

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The visit to the Caribbean earlier this month by Chinese Leader Xi Jinping and the simultaneous announcement that the region would be the beneficiary of yet another huge tranche of financial aid from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) lends a predictable continuity to Beijing’s pursuit of the use of economic diplomacy as a tool with which to deepen its influence in the region. This is not the Cold War era. China’s interest in the Caribbean has nothing to do with exporting ideology; rather, its mission is to enhance its sphere of influence and the Caribbean is part of the global space within which it pursues that expansion. China seeks to buy its way into the region. By visiting the region less than a year after securing the key positions of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Committee and three months after becoming President, Xi Jinping appears to be signalling that he wants to ‘fast track’ Sino-Caribbean relations. Accordingly, there are good reasons for the Caribbean to understand, first, what the Chinese really want and, secondly, whether Chinese interests coincide with our priorities for the region.