In the last decade, Jamaica has borrowed from China to finance badly needed infrastructure and there has been foreign direct investment (FDI) by Chinese companies in the bauxite and sugar industries.

These developments have ignited a controversy about whether Jamaica is losing what little economic sovereignty it has. Some have called the Chinese the new colonialists.

Mr Peter Bunting, People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on national security, in a video entitled ‘Chinese Take Over’ claims that there is “a form of economic colonialism by Chinese businesses operating in Jamaica”.

Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke has rebutted allegations about the amount and implications of Chinese capital and attributes much of the criticism as emanating from ‘xenophobia’.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has described these allegations as “fearmongering”. The truth is that if the Chinese are the new colonialists, their approach is to give more on better, less punishing terms than those that keep borrowers in poverty.

The public debate has suffered from the absence of factual information which, by and large, has left a vacuum that has been filled by wild speculation, allegations, misinformation and, regrettably, some disinformation.

It bears noting that in regard to loans and outstanding debt, China is now the largest source of bilateral development assistance to Jamaica. Development loans from China to Jamaica have been used to finance infrastructure projects built by Chinese enterprises.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/why-the-panic-over-chinese-loans-and-fdi-flows-_157432