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[learn to swim]

Move over Taiwan - here comes China

[learn to swim]

Saturday, February 19, 2005 Posted: 0805 GMT (1605 HKT)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- China is waging an aggressive campaign of seduction in the Caribbean, wooing countries away from relationships with rival Taiwan, opening markets for its expanding economy, promising to send tourists, and shipping police to Haiti in the first communist deployment in the Western Hemisphere.

And the United States, China's Cold War enemy, is benignly watching the Asian economic superpower move into its backyard.

For decades China and Taiwan used dollar diplomacy to win over small Caribbean nations where small projects building roads, bridges, wells and fisheries go a long way.

But Beijing's growing economic clout is tipping the scales in the region.

Caribbean trade with China reached $2 billion last year, a 42.5 percent increase from 2003, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States has applauded China's economic offensive, seeing it as a herald of political reform.

"China's intensified interest in the Western Hemisphere does not imply a lack of focus by the United States," Roger Noriega, the U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in a recent letter to the editor of New Jersey's Newark Star Ledger.

"The United States has long stood for expansion of global trade and consolidating democracy."

This year, two Caribbean countries -- Dominica and Grenada -- switched allegiance to China, abandoning Taiwan, which China calls "a renegade province."

Though democratic Taiwan is self-governing, communist Beijing insists the island is part of China. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and Beijing has since refused to have ties with any government that recognizes Taiwan.

"Democratic, market-oriented Taiwan is a thorn in its side," said Steve Johnson, senior policy analyst at the conservative Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation.

Two weeks before Dominica changed sides, Taiwan gave it $9 million. China promised Dominica $112 million over the next six years.

"China is not only increasing its influence in the Caribbean, the region is opening up to China, realizing that Taiwan's money diplomacy is not working anymore," said Guyana's Foreign Minister Clement Rohee.

The Bahamas was one of the first in the region to abandon Taiwan, in 1997. The move came as Hutchisom Whampoa, a Beijing-allied Hong Kong company, opened a $114 million container port in Freeport and bought three hotel resorts in Nassau.

Since then, China has earmarked more than $1 billion for projects ranging from maritime transport to a sports complex.

Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said he expects future Chinese aid will be significant.
Tourist trade

Early this month, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong visited Jamaica for a three-day China-Caribbean economic and trade forum attended by hundreds of Chinese and Caribbean government officials and business executives.

Robert Stephens, chairman of Jamaica's Fair Trade Commission and senior vice president of the Jamaican Port Authority, looks forward to future deals.

"The Chinese would distribute goods throughout the Caribbean. Any increase in business would benefit Jamaica as a logistic distribution hub," he said.

By the end of the forum, China added Antigua, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, and St. Lucia to its approved travel destinations, promising the region a bigger piece of the fast-growing Chinese tourist market.

Caribbean governments had sought the approved status to boost a tourism industry hard hit by the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

"Basically, it's the tourist trade that interests China," Johnson said. "I think they will try to invest in their own hotels and in maritime activities" while "consolidating their access to energy" in oil-producing Trinidad.

Qinghong this month led a delegation of 120 to Trinidad and visited its Pitch Lake, which produces asphalt used to pave many Chinese highways and the runways at Beijing International Airport.

China, already the leading importer of Trinidadian asphalt, is a good prospect for even more business as Beijing develops infrastructure for the 2008 Olympic Games and World Expo 2010, a Chinese government statement said.
Once mortal enemies

In the Caribbean, only five countries still maintain relations with Taiwan -- the Dominican Republic, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

But China has commercial missions in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti, where in October China dispatched 95 police officers to join a U.N. peacekeeping force. It is Beijing's first contribution to a U.N. mission in the Western Hemisphere.

The United States and China once were mortal enemies.

When China became communist in 1949, the United States supported Taiwan, the island where the former Chinese government had taken refuge. U.S. troops fought Chinese soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War.

But in 1971 the United Nations gave Beijing the China seat and Taiwan was expelled. In 1979, the United States recognized China's legitimacy. In 2001, China entered the World Trade Organization and foreign investment in China shot to $153.5 billion last year, up 33 percent from 2003.

Last year, China's share of global output was 13 percent ---- more than that of Canada and almost twice that of Japan.

U.S. exports to China have grown more rapidly than to any other country with cumulative investment there reaching $35 billion, according to the State Department. Among leading U.S. businesses there, Wal-Mart sales in China totaled $707 million in 2003.

Story Link

[Lagspike]

Go China! With continued investment, a strong economy, and a predicted lifting of the weapons embargo, China is well on its way to superpower status. Soon, before 50 years pass, Taiwan will be reclaimed by China.

[thundertaker]

I doubt those people living in a free country like Taiwan are overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of being enslaved by that murderous regime in Bejing......

[ToonArmyIsComing]

Oh dear! I hope for Taiwan's sake, the US continues supporting them! The population in that country is not Chinese anymore! The entire population is Taiwanese now and they have Taiwanese identity!

[Lagspike]

Are you Taiwanese, or Chinese? Have you traveled to both Taiwan and China? Otherwise, you have no right to comment on that.

[eynon]

Lagspike wrote: Are you Taiwanese, or Chinese? Have you traveled to both Taiwan and China? Otherwise, you have no right to comment on that.

I have so......."Oh dear! I hope for Taiwan's sake, the US continues supporting them! The population in that country is not Chinese anymore! The entire population is Taiwanese now and they have Taiwanese identity!"

[Simon De Montfort]

Lagspike wrote: Are you Taiwanese, or Chinese? Have you traveled to both Taiwan and China? Otherwise, you have no right to comment on that.

I'm an American and I too have been to both Taiwan and China. The people of Taiwan enjoy a free an vibrant democratic government. Where as the people of China fear their government. I support Taiwan's independence and would be willing to die in a war with China to ensure Taiwan stays independent.

The above article leaves out some information. Taiwan has two governments the provincial government of Taiwan and the Republic of China government. The ROC claims to be the true government of all China and claims Nanjing as its capital. What I think the article above may be really talking about is that these Caribbean governments are no longer recognizing the ROC instead of Taiwan.

I think Taiwan should disband the ROC and claim to be a separate country. Taiwan hasn't be ruled from Beijing for the last 110 years. Taiwan was conquered by Japan in 1895 which controlled it until 1945 when it was returned to the ROC. That only lasted until 1949 when Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan. Since then the ROC has governed Taiwan sperate from Communist China (PRC). Taiwan has a long history of independence from mainland China. It has often been the refuge of displaced dynasties. So Taiwan has a longer history of political separation from mainland China.

Saying Taiwan is part of China is akin to saying Quebec is part of France.

[Lagspike]

Simon De Montfort wrote:
Taiwan has two governments
Taiwan doesn't control the PRC at all, and has no power over the Chinese people. It was expelled from the United Nations in 1971, as the article says, and the U.S. does not recognize it as a country. Therefore, it is not.

[Bertrand]

I think the Taiwenese rejected last year by referendum the proposition to declare themselves an independant country. This fact shows that, if they don't favour immediate integration into the PRC, they feel they have some link with it.

[Simon De Montfort]

Bertrand wrote: I think the Taiwenese rejected last year by referendum the proposition to declare themselves an independant country. This fact shows that, if they don't favour immediate integration into the PRC, they feel they have some link with it.

Once Taiwan declares independence China will attack. So it is the fear of war not the desire to maintain a link with Beijing which persuades so of them from declaring independence.

[thundertaker]

Simon De Montfort wrote: Bertrand wrote: I think the Taiwenese rejected last year by referendum the proposition to declare themselves an independant country. This fact shows that, if they don't favour immediate integration into the PRC, they feel they have some link with it.

Once Taiwan declares independence China will attack. So it is the fear of war not the desire to maintain a link with Beijing which persuades so of them from declaring independence.

Perhaps re-union with the mainland could be considered by the Taiwanese if the Chinese move towards genuine democratic government?

[ToonArmyIsComing]

thundertaker wrote:
Perhaps re-union with the mainland could be considered by the Taiwanese if the Chinese move towards genuine democratic government?

The people in Taiwan the people who were born after the separation from China seem to think of themselves as Taiwanese! They have a new identity now, which is different from the Chinese! They should be treated like a nation. I think it's pathetic if they are forced to integrate with China unless they really want it.

[Simon De Montfort]

thundertaker wrote: Simon De Montfort wrote: Bertrand wrote: I think the Taiwenese rejected last year by referendum the proposition to declare themselves an independant country. This fact shows that, if they don't favour immediate integration into the PRC, they feel they have some link with it.

Once Taiwan declares independence China will attack. So it is the fear of war not the desire to maintain a link with Beijing which persuades so of them from declaring independence.

Perhaps re-union with the mainland could be considered by the Taiwanese if the Chinese move towards genuine democratic government?

Possible but doubtful. I would rather China go democratic first, then Taiwan re-unites.

[thoughtprocess]

hopefully with this process of trade liberalization, China can move down the path of democracy

[Bertrand]

thoughtprocess wrote: hopefully with this process of trade liberalization, China can move down the path of democracy

Trade liberalization has nothing to do with democracy. If it had, why would the US maintain an embargo on Cuba?

[Nico]

Bertrand wrote: I think the Taiwenese rejected last year by referendum the proposition to declare themselves an independant country. This fact shows that, if they don't favour immediate integration into the PRC, they feel they have some link with it.

I wouldn't have agreed with this , till I talked to a Taiwanese ex-policeman recently. He said much the same thing; basically, 'we still see ourselves as family, but don't want to unite with China at the moment...too soon'

[eynon]

Bertrand wrote: thoughtprocess wrote: hopefully with this process of trade liberalization, China can move down the path of democracy

Trade liberalization has nothing to do with democracy. If it had, why would the US maintain an embargo on Cuba?

cause some-times we just do stuff that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.... :-D

[Placemat]

Let’s just hope and pray that the French and German government don’t get the chance to lift the Tiananmen weapons embargo. Otherwise ultimately the people of Japan will have to worry about china aswell.

[ToonArmyIsComing]

Placemat wrote: Let’s just hope and pray that the French and German government don’t get the chance to lift the Tiananmen weapons embargo. Otherwise ultimately the people of Japan will have to worry about china aswell.

I think we can't put a ban on China forever ... The EU will start selling arms to China soon. Instead of isolating ourselves, we need to try and use our influence (if we have any) on them and persuade them not to sell the more dangerous weapons to them, which would be a better approach IMHO.