{"id":115,"date":"2009-02-18T13:13:43","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T19:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/?p=115"},"modified":"2009-02-18T13:13:43","modified_gmt":"2009-02-18T19:13:43","slug":"what-is-china-doing-in-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/2009\/02\/18\/what-is-china-doing-in-jamaica\/","title":{"rendered":"What is China Doing in Jamaica?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dsc_2214\"While writing this I am listening to the gentle ocean surf under a bright blue sky.\u00a0 <\/span>My wife and I are enjoying a lovely 2009 Valentine\u2019s Day, along with hundreds of other Americans, some of whom came to get married on the sand to the gentle rhythm of the breakers and Reggae music in the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I heartily recommend a Valentine vacation in <\/span><\/span>Montego Bay<\/span><\/a> to every American, but don\u2019t wait very many years because Jamaica may become something like a province of China. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The headlines of the local papers in Montego Bay blasted the news of China\u2019s Vice President Xi Jinping visit to celebrate China\u2019s grants and loans of $140 million (USD) to Jamaica. Shovel in hand VP Xi announced China\u2019s gift of a new convention center. China aid to Jamaica far exceeds American aid this year. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>At the very time that the USA cannot afford the luxury of lavish foreign aid, China steps in and helps out our trading partners, as if they were altruistic and just trying to help. China, like America, tends to attach strings to its aid. The strings are trade obligations and implied allegiance. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Our current financial collapse stems from overdependence of the US economy on financial services rather than manufacturing and knowledge production. Financial services have, in turn, been over dependent on public addiction to needless consumption. Through all of this financial debauchery, China has been standing nearby like a bartender serving us drinks and taking our money. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As of this past November, China held almost $700 billion dollars in securities of the <\/span>US government debt<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Foreign countries own $3 trillion of the U.S. treasury, but China owns more of that than any other country. <\/span><\/p>\n

With our economy teetering on the brink, aid to developing countries inevitably will take a hit at budget time. It is a wonderful time for China to fill the gap and build \u201cpartnerships\u201d with nations in our \u201cbackyard.\u201d Jamaica is only a hundred miles from both Cuba and Haiti, and about 300 miles from Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be a mistake not to note the long history of the Chinese in Jamaica. In the late 19th<\/sup> Century as thousands of slaves were shipped from Africa, a large number of Chinese were imported as indentured servants. Now Jamaica has an estimated Chinese population of <\/span>70,000<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s cozy foreign policy with the Caribbean since 1990 is no secret. Not only have the Chinese acquired important natural resources like asphalt from the region but they have had several <\/span>military exercises<\/span><\/a> there as well. China is Cuban largest trading partner apart from Venezuela. Caribbean nations see China as an alternative to heavy dependence upon the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, America sends more than tourists to Jamaica. The Peace Corps has sent 3,400 volunteers to Jamaica and over 100 are now stationed there. They continue to do wonderful things for the Jamaican economy, but they are not as visible as a convention center. Nor are they a match for the thousands of guns donated and sold by the United States to Jamaica and Haiti. In one year, 1999, alone, the USA sold Jamaica $<\/span>5 million in military equipment<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we want to preserve the beautiful vacation opportunities for Americans in Jamaica, we should stop the flow of guns and ratchet up the flow of Peace Corps projects ten-fold. Jamaica is in our own backyard, not China\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While writing this I am listening to the gentle ocean surf under a bright blue sky.\u00a0 My wife and I are enjoying a lovely 2009 Valentine\u2019s Day, along with hundreds of other Americans, some of whom came to get married on the sand to the gentle rhythm of the breakers and Reggae music in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/eye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}