Just days after recently accredited American Ambassador Herschel Walker urged the Bahamas to abandon a Chinese loan agreement to build a specialty hospital in the country, Prime Minister Phillip Davis has doubled down on the growing relations between the nation and China.
Since taking office in early December, the former NFL star turned diplomat for the Trump administration has been making it clear that part of his mission is to undermine China’s perceived diplomatic and commercial foothold in the mini archipelago just off Florida.
When local authorities recently announced that they had wrapped up an agreement for the Chinese to provide a $195 million loan for the 200-bed children’s facility, Walker wasted little time in attacking the project, indicating that Americans can easily rival the Chinese with better financing deals.
He dubbed the arrangements as not being “in the best interests of the Bahamas to submit to Chinese law and labor standards on their own soil. We stand ready to work with the Bahamas to help secure a better deal — whether from private or public sources — to provide the healthcare infrastructure Bahamians deserve.”
As it turned out, authorities made it clear to Walker that his intervention had come way too late and that their own efforts to have secured financing from the EU Exim Bank had failed miserably because “The Bahamas did not receive a financing response that met the scale, timing, and certainty required to advance this critical national project,” said Health Minister Michael Darville.
Walker’s efforts to pressure local officials to scale back on China have come in the midst of a sustained pressure campaign from Washington for Caribbean nations to severely downgrade their relations with the Chinese and the Cubans, and lean more toward the U.S. and the west.
Forced to walk a diplomatic tightrope, some regional governments are scaling back on relations with the Cubans but do not appear to be as willing to do so with the Chinese, who are funding numerous development projects across the 15-nation bloc.
Speaking at a Chinese New Year event in the past week, Davis hailed relations between the two, saying these are getting stronger. “I am pleased to say that the relationship between the Bahamas and China continues to develop in meaningful ways, and importantly, in ways that have tangible impact. Over the past year, we have witnessed meaningful collaboration that has directly impacted lives,” he said.
Davis pointed to Chinese medical assistance to provide free eye care to more than 200 locals, noting that the effort had helped to restore “dignity, recovery of independence, and reinforcement of family bonds. For those outcomes, we are genuinely appreciative. We also recognize the significant progress being made on the new Nassau hospital, which remains a major national priority.”
Even as the embassy in the Bahamas tries to sustain the pressure, though, the Chinese themselves are lashing back at the U.S. by contending that its ambitions are pure, developmental in nature, and sometimes simply a matter of commerce and business.
In its statements responding directly to Walker, the mission declared that “China–Bahamas cooperation involves no geopolitical calculations, targets no third party, and should not be interfered with by any external party.” It added that China “respects the sovereignty of The Bahamas and supports its independent choice of development paths and partners. The project aligns with the healthcare needs of The Bahamas and serves its best interests.”
Meanwhile, Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the cabinet remains hopeful that Walker and U.S. officials will come through for the Bahamas with projects in the future, including current plans to construct a modern prison facility in the capital. He said the U.S. must back up its word with action such as capital financing.
“I will expect that we will get a good response from American EXIM bank if we approach them for funding for the prison, because that is something else that we would be looking for funding for, and I take him at his word that the U.S. is prepared to assist us with that,” the minister said, throwing out a challenge to American banks and contractors. The project would cost around $50 million.
Let’s be clear. There are strings attached with whatever country is investing in the Caribbean. That said, each nation is entitled to work with the countries of their choosing.