Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie
The China Centre at Oxford University is of contemporary design, unlike other buildings on the Oxford campus, some of which date back to the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries.
Some years ago, I studied at the Said Business School, which was a spanking new building then, state of the art in terms of both layout and technology, made possible by an endowment from Syrian/Canadian businessman and philanthropist Wafic Said. Like the Said Business School, the Dickson Poon China Centre was made possible by a sizeable endowment. This time by a successful Hong Kong businessman in honour of his father.
The China Centre focuses on China’s development as a country with a long history, but also on China’s role in modern and contemporary times in the world as it has evolved and continues to transform. That inevitably means trade, investment, development, politics, international relations and geopolitics.
At both the Latin American Centre and the China Centre, the Caribbean did not feature much. The Latin American Centre focused on the countries of Latin America.
Prof Todd Hall, director of the China Centre and a political scientist, had invited me to speak on China in the Caribbean and how that is likely to impact Western Hemisphere geopolitics.
I tried to bridge some of the gaps in my two talks. China’s relationship with the Caribbean dates back to the nineteenth century and indentureship when Chinese indentured servants followed Portuguese indentured servants, preceding the larger wave of indentured servants from India after the end of the slave trade and the Emancipation Proclamation.
But in China’s engagement with the Caribbean and Latin America, one can see the system and strategic intent at work. Some countries among the 15 in Caricom are aligned with Taiwan (St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Haiti). That makes it awkward for China to engage all Caricom heads of government equally.
When President Xi Jinping came to T&T in 2013, he only met with the leaders of ten countries in Caricom that had diplomatic relations with China. Since then, all ten countries have signed up for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with T&T being the first to do so.
In 2005 there was an inaugural China-Caricom meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. This initiated China’s official engagement with the Caricom Secretariat separate and distinct from Caricom Heads. The fourth China-Caricom forum took place in September 2024 in China.
In 2006 the BRICS group was established with Russia, India, and Brazil, which has been expanding. In 2007 South Africa was invited to join. In 2008, in the time of Xi Jinping’s immediate predecessor Hu Jintao, a position paper on Latin America and the Caribbean was prepared. The goal espoused at that time was to establish a comprehensive and cooperative partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit, and common development.
That 2008 paper seeks to facilitate cooperation and collaboration in almost every sphere. In 2011, CELAC was inaugurated in Caracas by Hugo Chavez, in which he read out a letter of support from the President of China. CELAC-China business meetings take place every two years.
In November 2012 Xi Jinping became general secretary of the Communist Party of China and gave his first speech to the world, before consolidating formidable power as head of the military and presidential head of government. In 2013, he launched his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which now has 150-plus countries signed on. In 2013, he visited T&T, met with ten Caricom heads, and then flew to Costa Rica and Mexico. In 2014, he came back to the hemisphere, visiting Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba. Eleven ground satellite stations have been established in all four countries.
In 2014 Xi Jinping attended the APEC summit, involving trade and investment collaborators across Asia and the Pacific, and asserted China’s intention to engage in a more robust foreign policy as he builds an Asia-Pacific partnership with accelerated economic integration driven by technology.
That same year, as I mentioned, he came back to this hemisphere. That same year the BRICS summit was convened in Brazil. Brazil will again be the venue for the next BRICS Summit in 2025. China hosted CELAC in the Great Hall of the People in 2015. In 2016, China and Africa agreed on an action plan till 2018. Venezuela will be hosting a CELAC-China business meeting in Caracas in 2026. It is not yet clear who will be president of Venezuela in January 2025. But Nicolas Maduro has declared himself host. China recognised Maduro as president, one day after the results of the Venezuela election were declared.
Under Joe Biden, sanctions have intensified on Venezuela because the United States challenges the results. This week, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, recognised Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the President of Venezuela, immediately rejected by Maduro.
The European Commission has also recognised Edmundo Gonzalez as president, and Maria Corina Machado has been given a European leadership award. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is in the White House, and Marco Rubio, a hawk on Cuba, Venezuela, and China, is his Secretary of State.
At the last OAS meeting, Caricom votes were split three ways—for, abstain, and absent—on the simple matter of whether the election commission in Venezuela should publish tally sheets with election results. Geopolitics are sure to play a role here, and the Caribbean might be caught in the middle. Alicia Barcena has been courted by China as head of ECLAC.
She once advised: “Latin America and the Caribbean must seek constructive, harmonious and respectful relations with all actors ... while setting our compass on our own interests ... to construct our development route.”
In other words, serve your best interest with whomever, but don’t forget that you live in the same hemisphere as the USA.
