China power
Jun 01, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....7/06/01/china-power/
China is a global power. It may not be a superpower, but it is powerful enough for its tentacles to be reaching across the oceans.
China is on a mission of domination of the global economy, which will see that country become the driving force within the economies of countries.
The Jagdeo administration was keen on supporting Chinese investments in Guyana, so much so that the citizenry laws were relaxed to facilitate Chinese nationals wishing to become permanent immigrants in Guyana.
If Jagdeo’s love affair with Chinese investments had persisted, Guyana may have found itself gobbled up by such investments.
The Chinese model which was being pursued here is the same model which is causing headaches in Sri Lanka. It is not a model of economic benevolence.
China has an internationalist posture in which it is building all manner of projects in developing countries. At first, this was merely seen as China offering ‘sweeteners,’ so that it could have access to resources needed to fuel its economic growth, which at one stage was in excess of 10%.
That growth is slowing, but the China juggernaut is moving apace. China is using its political and business clout to penetrate into other economies, and this model is being seen as opening the doors to a possible economic takeover of countries.
The BBC this past week did a story about Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, a country in which the two Asian titans, China and India, are competing for dominance. The model China is pursuing in Sri Lanka is the same model that the Jagdeo administration was seeking to impose on Guyana.
Jagdeo wanted to build a deep water harbour. This would have most likely been built with Chinese money. China built a port in Sir Lanka costing almost one billion US dollars. The port is fast becoming a white elephant, just like the sugar factory built with Chinese money at Skeldon. China built a convention centre in Guyana; it did the same in Sri Lanka.
China built a new airport in Sri Lanka and the people of that country are still waiting on the deluge of flights that they were told would be forthcoming. Workers have little work to do because of the limited air traffic. It is only a matter of time before that airport is handed over to the Chinese.
China is financing the extension of Guyana’s airstrip, even though there are no guarantees that the extended runway will attract increased passengers and goods to justify its costs. The APNU+AFC government was opposed to this project when in opposition, but is now supporting it.
Sri Lanka has run up a huge debt because of the loans it has taken from China to build infrastructure, including the new port. The government was forced, under the crippling burden of the debt, to swap the debt for shares in the port, which means that China now effectively has major shares in the facility, suspected to be about 80%, according to the BBC report.
China then bought up huge swathes of land near to the port to establish industrial and commercial parks. This very idea was on the table for Guyana before the May 2015 elections. Large acreages of land were set aside for the establishment of industrial parks to be built by and for Chinese investors.
This is the way that the China model allows for the seizure of economic influence. It loans money, when the debt accumulates, the governments are forced to extend land and business concessions to Chinese companies which complete the economic domination of the country.
China is also building a new city – yes, you read me right – a new city to dwarf that of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. The city is being built on reclaimed land. So eventually China will have its own city in Colombo which, reeling from high debts, will have little choice but to concede to an eventual Chinese economic takeover of the country.
The APNU+AFC government has to understand the new internationalism of China. It is no longer about obtaining resources to fuel economic development in China. It is now about extending Chinese economic domination to the rest of the world.