When one looks at the sheer size of China and the size of its population in relation to the Caribbean as a region, and the small size and small population of individual Caribbean islands, any relationship between China and the Caribbean, hardly seems worth considering at all. But a closer examination of the China–Caribbean relationship would reveal that it is an important relationship, not just for the Caribbean and China; not just for resources and markets or for trade, investment and development; but for the geopolitics of the western hemisphere and the world at large. China–Caribbean relations have become especially poignant under the leadership of Xi Jinping in our contemporary period. A 2008 position paper sets the framework for China’s thrust into Latin America and the Caribbean but Xi Jinping and his global ambitions for China, sets the tone.
The presentation also explores four major considerations that are important to Xi Jinping:
1) the middle income country trap
2) avoidance of war with the United States of America
3) China as a Developing country
4) a multi polar world with a more acceptable balance of power
This talk will examine the growing relations between the Caribbean and China and how it fits into China’s broader strategy and Caribbean needs. But it will also look at China’s growing engagement with Latin America and western hemisphere countries and how that might complicate the geopolitics of the hemisphere.
Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie is a multifaceted intellectual with achievements spanning academia, politics, parliament and government. Dr Tewarie has authored, on his own and with collaborators, seven books including the latest published Economic Implications of Venezuelan migration on Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean (Palgrave Macmillan 2022). Two others, Sixty Years of Trinidad and Tobago Independence (UWI Press) and China in the Caribbean: Trade, Investment and Geopolitical Influence (Palgrave Macmillan) are in process for publication in early 2025.
Dr Tewarie is a graduate of Northwestern University, completed his Masters as an International House Fellow at the University of Chicago, and his PhD at the Pennsylvania State University on a Fulbright-LASPAU scholarship. He also completed a Leadership programme at the Saïd School of Business, University of Oxford and one on Foresighting at the University of Houston.
Dr Tewarie pursued a dual track career with outstanding contributions in both education on the one hand, and Politics, Parliament and Government on the other. He served as lecturer at the University of the West Indies, from where he later retired as Principal of the Trinidad and Tobago campus. He also served as Pro Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development at UWI. He was a Senior Lecturer at Arthur Lock Jack School of Business and served that institution as Executive Director for eight years.
He has served for fifteen years in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago in both House of Representatives and the Senate. He has twice been a Cabinet Minister responsible for Trade, Enterprise and Tourism and Planning and Sustainable Development respectively. He published a book on Sustainable Development in 2015.
Dr Tewarie currently writes a weekly column for the Trinidad Guardian on national regional and international issues and has written several articles about development issues in the region.
