China in the Caribbean: East Asia meets West Indies

• Author: Daniel P. Erikson and Paul J. Wander
• Pages: 186-199

CHINA IN THE CARIBBEAN:

EAST ASIA MEETS WEST INDIES

Daniel P. Erikson and Paul J. Wander

14

During the past twenty years, the People’s

Republic of China (PRC) has experienced

near double-digit economic growth that has

transformed the most populous nation in

the world into a major economic competitor

with the United States and other signif‌icant

developed countries. By contrast, the small

nation-states of the Caribbean have struggled

to achieve economic growth, are paid scant

attention by larger global powers, and rank

among the hardest hit by the global recession.

On average, the Caribbean has underperformed

most developing countries worldwide, while

China and other East Asian nations have led the

developing world in economic performance.

Whereas large scale economic growth has

been the key to China’s increased role on the

world stage, the Caribbean has had diff‌iculty

in f‌inding its niche in the global economy and

has found itself largely off the radar. In strictly

economic terms, the Caribbean is of negligible

importance to China, but the region has also

emerged as an important battleground for

China and Taiwan as the home of a dwindling

number of states that do not subscribe to the

“One China” policy.

As China became an increasingly

inf‌luential actor on the world stage, it

demanded the diplomatic recognition that

for years it had been denied. After Chiang

Kai-shek and his Republican Army f‌led to the

island of Taiwan in 1949, ceding the mainland

to Mao Zedong and the PRC, the western

world, led by the United States, did not offer

off‌icial recognition to Beijing. Instead, Taipei

was recognized and the Republic of China

(ROC) that operated there represented ‘China’

in the global political structure that emerged

following World War II. The PRC was ignored

in the context of the Cold War and it was not

until President Richard Nixon traveled to

Beijing in February 1972 that détente began.

Rapprochement was f‌inalized 7 years later

by President Jimmy Carter when the United

States formally recognized that “there is but

one China and that Taiwan is a part of China.”

Territorial sovereignty remains the most

sensitive foreign policy issue to the PRC and

wresting diplomatic recognition away from

Taipei has been the mission of the ‘one-China’

policy that has driven Chinese diplomacy for

the last half-century.

The ‘One China’ policy makes diplomatic

recognition of the PRC or the ROC a zero

sum game, which means that Beijing will

not maintain relations with any state that

recognizes Taipei. Only 23 nations maintain

relations with the island nation and Latin

America and the Caribbean account for half

of these, making the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) a competitive arena in which

both Beijing and Taipei have a strong interest.

Five CARICOM states, Belize, Haiti, St.

Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and

the Grenadines recognize Taipei over Beijing,

but the support of these Caribbean nations

often comes down to dollars and cents. China,

in competition with Taiwan, offers economic

support to the Caribbean through trade, aid

and investment, which returns the favour –