Dominica and the growing Chinese involvement in the Caribbean

The Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica, a symbol of Chinese involvement in the Caribbean.

Completion of the projects notwithstanding, there continues to be a public outcry for Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit to make available to the general public all the details of the MOU. However, despite the many calls, and for reasons best known to himself, Skerrit has refused to make the MOU public.

In the absence of public disclosure many in Dominica continue to wonder aloud why it is that the Chinese are taking such close interest in Dominica. While China’s interest in South American countries can be readily explained it is proving more difficult to understand fully the extent of their interest in Dominica.

For instance, given the Chinese demand for raw materials they have successfully sourced iron ore from Brazil, oil from Venezuela and Ecuador, beef from Uruguay and soybeans from Argentina. Except for Dominica’s water for which the Chinese have shown little interest there is no other known resource that could warrant that level of interest.

The explanation should therefore lie elsewhere. Many in Dominica point to an asymmetric interest where China pours in millions of dollars and in turn it exports a few thousand of its citizens to the country. The proof, already the Chinese have been active in transforming the local business landscape, soaking up small businesses from retail shops to rum shops to food joints.

In exchange, they import cheap Chinese products and remit foreign exchange. While the scale of these operations looms large in the context of an extraordinarily small Dominican economy the benefit to China is at best miniscule. In other words the return on their Dominican investment appears to be almost zero.

But is it? What appear to be emerging are deliberate attempts by the Chinese government to not only focus on Dominica, but rather to extend their influence throughout the English speaking Caribbean. Much like they have a foothold in Latin America their footprint in the Caribbean region is getting larger.

The Bahamas now boasts of a brand new athletics stadium, thanks to the Chinese. In Antigua and Barbuda a power plant and a cricket stadium signals the Chinese involvement, and so too does cricket stadiums in St Lucia and Grenada.

To underscore the Chinese involvement beyond infrastructure projects, in September 2011 Chinese vice Premier Wang Qishan while meeting with Caribbean leaders pledged US$1billion of preferential loans to support the economic development of the region.

He also pledged a further deepening of China-Caribbean cooperation in such areas as finance and investment, capacity building, environmental protection, new energy, culture, education, health, trade, tourism as well as agriculture and fisheries.

The Chinese have invested millions into the Caribbean and it does appear that theirs is one of strategic positioning. Why not cozy up to Caribbean countries that have seen a steady decline in American interest and whose country’s are feeling abandoned by their neighbor to the North.

The level of American involvement in the current day Caribbean is a far cry from their interests in the heyday of the Cold War. Countries complain bitterly of a seeming American indifference to their economic and social progress. Clearly, the Chinese must believe that they are filling a void by replacing American interests while at the same time dealing a death blow to Taiwanese interests in the Caribbean.

However, the growing Chinese involvement in the Caribbean has not been without its setbacks. Already, residents in Antigua, St Lucia, Jamaica, and Dominica have raised their voices against the influx of cheap Chinese labor, leading to increased tensions between the two populations.

In the final analysis, it may be that level of unease that succeed in derailing China’s grand plans for political and economic significance, expansion, and influence within the Caribbean Region.