Major US Think Tank Says “Chequebook Diplomacy” Affects Caribbean Relations

WASHINGTON, D.C. CMC – A major think tank here says that China’s “check book diplomacy” is affecting relations not solely between the Caribbean and Beijing, but also between the region and Taiwan.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) said in a report that unsurprisingly, Taiwan is affected the most by Beijing’s growing influence throughout the Caribbean, “because the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to shrink Taipei’s network of allies”.

COHA said the United States would also have to address the challenges being posed by Beijing’s increasing presence in the Caribbean given the importance of the region to Washington.

According to COHA, the practice of handing out checks has been called “checkbook diplomacy,”  a process in which a government provides loans and financial gifts to obtain diplomatic favors from other nations.

The current situation of the Caribbean region, in which, over the past decades, several governments have switched from having relations with Taipei to having them with Beijing, is an example of the success of China’s checkbook diplomacy, COHA said.

It said Beijing wants to further challenge Taiwan’s independence and to isolate it from the international community.

“Ultimately, the PRC uses checkbook diplomacy to appeal to Taiwan’s allies,? it said, adding that the PRC offers funding to Caribbean states in exchange for diplomatic recognition of Beijing and a severance of relations with Taipei.

COHA says the shifting alliances of Caribbean states were most obvious in the struggle between Taiwan and the PRC over Grenada and St. Lucia, “as both Taipei and Beijing use checkbook diplomacy to act on the network of alliances.

“Thus, it is clear that checkbook diplomacy does not definitively guarantee success, because it can be easily challenged by other nations.

“The behaviour of these countries demonstrates that checkbook diplomacy can be effective in the Caribbean basin,” it added.

COHA said as tax havens, most Caribbean countries have limited use of taxation and are unable to raise sufficient funds for public spending to lead their economies towards development.

In addition to financial gifts, COHA said a growing Chinese and Taiwanese presence in the region provides Caribbean countries the opportunity to diversify their diplomatic networks that are “currently monopolized” mainly by Western countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands – and also by Latin American ones, the members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.

In the case of the United States, COHA said Washington did not engage with Caribbean countries at any significant level to counteract the PRC, and that it has started a process to increase its cooperation in the Caribbean during Barack Obama’s presidency, pointing to the visit of Vice President Joseph Biden to the region earlier this year.

COHA said however, unlike the United States, Beijing does not interfere in the internal affairs of Caribbean countries, “nor does it try to challenge the sovereignty of those nations.

“This attitude is likely to be more appreciated by the countries than that of the United Nations,” COHA said, adding that the United States “undoubtedly remains the main power in the Caribbean”.

It said that since both China and Taiwan have different priorities and interests than those of the United States,  Washington may decide to adjust its policies to challenge Beijing’s growing influence in that region, ‘which has been historically regarded as “Washington’s backyard”.

The think tank says while the United States has traditionally used “hard power policies” it  “may be ready to implement checkbook diplomacy in order to challenge the PRC in the Caribbean”.

COHA notes that the Caribbean basin is a strategic area for the United States “due to economic interests and security concerns, particularly as the region has become a corridor for drug trafficking from South America, as well as other crimes like human trafficking.

“Washington will want to continue to ensure that its influence and security interests in the region are not being jeopardized,” COHA added.