Dear Editor,
Region 3 social and economic development would not be derailed by simmering concerns over Guyana’s relations with a development/trade partner, China. The new Demerara River Bridge which is being built through a Chinese joint venture will open vast new economic opportunities in the region, including the provision of greater access to markets, faster transport/ travel, uninterrupted flow of traffic, less carbon emission, and significant reduction in lost person hours. These factors will combine with others to stimulate and unleash the region’s entrepreneurial potential. Guyana has established 50 years of diplomatic engagement with China. Region 3 residents’ exuberance overshadows any worry over the growing trade and business relations between Guyana and China. They want and cannot wait too long to enjoy the prosperity (of which the new bridge is a component) that the government promised.
The fact that the new bridge is “the biggest transport infrastructure project in the history of the country,” combined with other contract awards to Chinese contractors such as the $(US) 184 million East Coast Road, and President Irfaan Ali’s recent visit to China, have unsettled some people’s nerves. They believe that Guyana might be caught in the middle of a new Cold War battle between China and the US. This is an ambivalent position. Although India, for example, has joined an anti-American economic system called BRICS that plans to replace the US dollar as the medium for international trade with their own BRICS currency, there has not been any outburst over this. Skeptics conveniently forget that China’s biggest investment in Guyana is within the oil and gas industry. The Chinese company CNOOC holds 25% of the stake in the Exxon consortium. This means that CNOOC’s investment (development) in four oil fields: Lisa I, Lisa II, Yellow Tail, and Payara was $(US) 7 billion, which is 1.8 times Guyana’s 2023 budget.
It is conceivable that Guyanese skeptics recall the during the Cold War between Russia and the United States, how the latter intervened to curtail the ministerial power of the PPP government after their 1961 electoral victory, and how they also removed the PPP government from office in 1964. Any fear should be allayed as those interventions happened in the early 1960s when Guyana was a colonial territory; now Guyana is an internationally respected sovereign state where the circumstances are anathema to intervention. The PPP/C government is unequivocally committed to democracy, the rule of law, the Guyana constitution, inclusive governance, as well as remain faithful to the Chaguaramas Treaty and various UN resolutions on freedom and democracy. Let us be clear: China and India are important partners in Guyana’s development, and so is the United States, CARICOM, and other countries. And the importance of Guyana-China relations is also shared by residents in the other regions of Guyana.
Sincerely,
Tara Singh
