Why is China spending billions in the Caribbean?

Santo Domingo.– After the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2005, it received a token of appreciation from the mainland Chinese government: a $55 million cricket stadium.

It was part of $132 million China doled out to Caribbean countries in aid and soft loans in the years leading up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup. At the time, the investment was seen as a not-so-subtle reward to countries that had broken off formal relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing.

Ever since, China has made that sum look like pittance.

The Beijing government and private Chinese corporations are spending billions in the Caribbean, building major tourism projects, financing roads and ports and buying companies — all of which are helping open new markets for Chinese products. The onslaught has cash-strapped Caribbean governments simultaneously praising China as a welcome benefactor and questioning what the country wants in exchange.

“Nearly every island in the Caribbean, from the smallest on up, currently has a substantial investment from China,” said David Jessop, managing director of the Caribbean Council, a London-based consultancy that works with Caribbean governments. “It seems that what nobody knows is what is motivating China.”
The total investment is difficult to quantify. China’s Ministry of Commerce reported that foreign direct investment in Caribbean countries by Chinese firms totaled nearly $7 billion in 2009, a more than 300 percent increase from the 2004 foreign direct investment of $1.7 billion. Those figures are somewhat misleading because of Chinese use of Caribbean tax havens — such as the Cayman Islands, which received $5.3 billion in Chinese foreign direct investment in 2009.

That aside, Caribbean islands have clearly been the recipients of investment by both Chinese firms and the government of the People’s Republic of China, which is financing some of the Caribbean's most notable, and largest, projects.

The boldest broke ground last month: The Chinese government's Export-Import Bank is putting $2.4 billion toward the construction of a 3,800-room resort in the Bahamas that will boast the largest casino in the Caribbean. Roughly 5,000 Chinese workers will be brought in to construct the Baha Mar resort on Cable Beach.