When the Third Caribbean-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum opened in Port of Spain earlier this week several Caribbean Heads of Government set aside their alternative schedules to be there, not the customary occurrence in a region where subject ministers are, more often than not, sent to represent their governments at such fora. That President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana and Prime Ministers Bruce Golding and Baldwin Spencer of Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, among others, made the trip to Trinidad and Tobago, is a reflection of the fast-growing importance which the region has come to attach to its economic ties with Beijing.
Long before Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan announced to opening ceremony that China would be pumping