Author Topic: Diplomatic decolonization  (Read 6561 times)

90sRetroFan

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Re: Diplomatic decolonization
« Reply #75 on: November 26, 2021, 09:52:38 pm »
Slow work pays off eventually:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-billions-buying-commonwealth-130713821.html

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When Tuesday morning dawns in Barbados, British influence in the Caribbean will retreat one more step as the island becomes a republic, ending almost 400 years of loyalty to the Crown.
...
In truth, however, Barbados has already drifted away from Britain, and in common with dozens of other Commonwealth members it has become increasingly dependent on another international partner: China.

Britain may have the Queen, but China has the cash, and in recent years Beijing has ploughed almost £500 million into the Barbadian economy, which equates to around a tenth of its gross domestic product. Roads, homes, sewers and a hotel have all been constructed with Chinese yuan, not British pounds or US dollars.

The picture is the same in Jamaica, widely expected to be the next Commonwealth realm to become a republic, where £2.6 billion of Chinese investment, against a GDP of £16.4 billion, makes it the biggest recipient of Chinese cash in the Caribbean.

In total, China has invested £685 billion across 42 Commonwealth countries since 2005, according to figures compiled by the American Enterprise Institute.
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When Barbados becomes a republic next week, it will remain a member of the Commonwealth, the 54-member association which has expanded during the Queen’s reign and remains one of her proudest achievements.

The danger, though, for British diplomacy is that a future president of Barbados could decide to leave the Commonwealth and build new alliances elsewhere.

Common history as former victims of Western colonialism is more important than so-called "Commonwealth". This is what China shares with all Commonwealth countries that used to be British colonies. Take Barbados, for example:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/colonial-era/barbados/

But continuing with the main article:

Quote
On the other side of the world, Commonwealth member Pakistan, which is the biggest recipient of UK Overseas Development Assistance, to the tune of £305 million in 2019, is also being targeted by China. Since 2005 it has received £60 billion of investment from China, more than a fifth of its GDP, and it now buys 70 per cent of its arms from China.
...
Biyika Lawrence Songa, an MP in the Parliament of Uganda, a member state which has had almost £9 billion of Chinese investment, says: “Commonwealth countries, including Uganda, are running to China instead of Britain or other countries, because it is very easy to access Chinese money and it is easy for our businessmen to get Chinese visas if they want to go there to buy materials, for example.
...
Democracies, with their ever-changing governments, tend to prioritise short-term gains, whereas, says Flather: “China has a permanent government and now an almost permanent leader... it’s able to think long-term.”

Another thing former victims of Western colonialism have in common is that none of our ancient governments used to be democratic. Some of us are democratic at present only due to colonial-era influence. None of us should want to remain democratic in the future.

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/true-left-vs-false-left/western-democracy/