Guyanese President Irfaan Ali (left) with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guyana.
Photograph by Bert Wilkinson
This week, China hailed its rising relations with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), noting the dramatic enhance in commerce previously decade and its ongoing battle for hearts and minds with the US within the area.
In remarks celebrating 28 years of diplomatic relations with The Bahamas, Ambassador Yan Jiarong used the chance to answer to latest feedback from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had warned Caribbean Group nations to watch out about their rising relations with China.
In remarks interpreted as a direct reply to Rubio, the envoy advised that no hurt can movement to any nation due to commerce and different relations with Beijing.
“Because the world’s second-largest financial system and in addition a key engine of the World South, China doesn’t coerce, doesn’t threaten, doesn’t sanction or invade others, and China was not and isn’t a colonizer however a reliable pal and long-term cooperating companion for LAC international locations,” she mentioned.
“This type of relationship harms nobody, and I believe that whether or not it’s The Bahamas or China, we have now the suitable, and we even have the knowledge to decide on with whom to be our pals and with whom to be our buying and selling companions,” she mentioned.
In conferences with three completely different units of Caribbean leaders previously six weeks, Secretary Rubio has doubled down on Washington’s concern of China’s growing affect in its geopolitical yard, warning about safety and different dangers.
Most leaders say they foresee no hurt and plan to make sure their nations don’t find yourself amid the US-China Chilly Conflict.
And pointing to rising commerce between the LAC states and China, the ambassador rolled out figures displaying commerce volumes reaching $518 billion in 2024 and rising yearly.
“It’s doubled previously decade and a rise of over 40 instances from the start of this century,” she famous, detailing varied types of help from Beijing to hemispheric nations in recent times.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the area, China was among the many first to supply help to LAC international locations, offering over 300 million doses of vaccines and almost 40 million items of medical provides and tools and sending a number of groups of medical consultants,” she mentioned.
From all appearances, China is investing closely within the Bahamian financial system, with traders proudly owning two of essentially the most distinguished vacationer resorts within the Caribbean- the Baha Mar and Margaritaville.
Within the coming months, it is usually processing an almost $300 million mortgage to construct a state hospital on New Windfall Island.
