Dickson C. Igwe. Photo: VINO/File

Now, Caribbean countries have always been a type of US backyard. Today, they have to choose between China and the USA in a finely balanced dance. That is the latest demand from the White House. 

If China is the first choice of a Caribbean leader in terms of their country’s external relations then there may be consequences. A Caribbean state aligning with China may face penalties such as visa denials, denial of US Dollar access, and aggressive border controls against its Caribbean natives at US borders, tariffs, and even blockades. The Prime Minister of Barbados has stated she would not have a problem if denied a US visa. 

Evidence of the Monroe Doctrine is the demand that Caribbean countries refuse to allow Cuban medical doctors into their territories or face penalties such as visa refusals for government officials. The Caribbean fully understands the power of the USA to inflict pain and suffering on the region: wise West Indians always have. The USA wields a big stick in the region.

Trump is the classic Ugly American of folklore. The song of Trinidad states Drinking Rum and Coca-Cola, going down Point Koomahnah, both mother and daughter, working for the Yankee Dollar. The US or El Norte powerful is the giant of a neighbour in the north who wields a big stick.

The USA has laid claim to the western hemisphere. Trump believes he owns the Americas: north central and south. One caveat: the US stock exchange is nervous at Trump’s bluster and bombast. Stock prices are plunging. Investors, who ultimately run things, are nervous. There is even talk of a Trump-induced recession approaching. Trump’s billionaire backers have lost billions of dollars from his rhetoric and love for imposing tariffs that are making the USA hated by international consumers. There are signs US voters are having buyer’s remorse already. 

 OK. China is the one threat to US hegemony. China is a very old civilization, thousands of years old, that after decades of humiliation in the 1800s has restored its power and sits as a hegemon in its own right in the Asian Pacific. Ironically, China is not interested in becoming a hegemony, however. It is not seeking global supremacy like the USA. 

China has never been a colonial or neo-imperial power. Its demands over Taiwan are justified according to its own narratives and history. The USA on the other hand has been engaged in wars and conflict for decades in all four corners of the globe.  These wars have been over resources such as oil and land, and ideology, against communism especially. The US is an empire in the classic mould. 

Now, the Chinese Communist Party adopts the Chinese model of state capitalism that allows free internal trade at the street level. However, China remains an autocratic state ruled by a dictator. 

In his latest assertion, China’s Communist Party Leader XI states he is ready for war with the USA. China will fight the USA every step of the way in the Pacific. War in Asia between both superpowers may be inevitable.