Of concern to US security interests is China's seaport expansion project at Kingston, Jamaica, as well as at Freeport, Bahamas, China's possible new base of operations 90 miles off the US coast. The projects are an opportunity for Chinese Communist Party intelligence operatives to suborn the sovereignty of Caribbean countries by luring them into "debt trap" economic dependency on China. Sri Lanka's inability to pay back loans for Beijing's modernization of the port of Hambantota (pictured) has resulted in the South Asian country's effective loss of the port. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP via Getty Images)
- China also seems to have a military agenda in the Caribbean region... Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe already is on record expressing China's willingness to deepen military cooperation with Caribbean countries.
- Of more concern to US security interests is the ongoing seaport expansion project in the already commercially important port at Kingston, Jamaica, as well as the port at Freeport, Bahamas, China's possible new base of operations 90 miles off the US coast.
- China is clearly not a government that honors its agreements.... The US can ill afford any Chinese drive to place under threat any Western Hemisphere country, much less the United States.
China's Communist Party (CCP) seems to be implementing a multidimensional strategy in the Caribbean, reaping economic, political and potentially military gains a few miles offshore the United States. China's ultimate objective of its Caribbean strategy may well be to confront the US, not only with its presence near the mainland US, but also with a situation analogous to America's military presence in the region of the South China Sea. There, China created new islands in the sea, pledged not to militarize them, then went and militarized them.
It is important to remember that China also promised Hong Kong autonomy until 2047, then, in 2020, jumped the gun by 27 years. "Hong Kong will be another communist-run city under China's strict control," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in July. China is clearly not a government that honors its agreements.
The CCP leadership has also been launching a diplomatic effort in the Caribbean with the goal of delegitimizing the state of Taiwan, while encouraging regional countries to open relations with...
