CHINA CLAPS BACK - Beijing rejects US concerns, says Jamaica ties built on mutual benefit

China has rebuffed comments by United States (US) ambassador nominee Kari Lake, as it defended its 53-year relationship with Jamaica, pointing to over US$2.1 billion in local investments and recent disaster relief as proof of a mutually beneficial partnership.

The response comes a week after Lake signalled to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing that she intends to counter China’s influence in Jamaica.

Lake told US lawmakers that, if confirmed, she would actively work to “ ... ensure that Jamaica continues to choose transparency, sovereignty, and partnership with the United States over dependence on actors whose interests do not align with our shared values”.

Yesterday, however, China, through its embassy in Kingston, said it has been and will continue to be “good friends and good partners for equality, mutual benefit and common development” with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

It said openness, inclusiveness and win-win collaboration are the hallmark of China-LAC cooperation.

“China always respects the people of LAC countries and commits to equal treatment and mutual benefit. Our cooperation does not target any third party and should not be subject to interference by any third party,” the embassy said in an emailed response to The Gleaner.

It said that, over the past 53 years of diplomatic ties, China-Jamaica relations have set a prime example of “equal-footed interaction” and “mutually beneficial cooperation for win-win results” between countries of different sizes.

The embassy said that, in 2025, bilateral trade volume between China and Jamaica exceeded US$1.4 billion.

Further, it said Chinese companies have invested over US$2.1 billion in Jamaica, creating more than 40,000 direct jobs, with over 80 per cent of their workforce drawn from the island.

The embassy said China-aided projects – including the Hugh Lawson Shearer Building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Western Children’s Hospital, along with the North-South Highway – have become enduring symbols of China-Jamaica friendship.

It pointed to the Confucius Institute at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, which it said has equipped more than 2,000 Jamaicans with Chinese language skills, while more than 3,000 Jamaicans have benefited from China-initiated scholarships and exchange programmes.

“After Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Melissa, China promptly provided financial assistance and emergency supplies to the island. The deployment of the Chinese Navy hospital ship Ark Silk Road and a Chinese team of medical experts provided humanitarian medical services to 7,563 local patients, leaving a lasting mark in the history of bilateral friendship.

“Through practical cooperation, our two countries have translated our friendship into tangible benefits for our two peoples,” the embassy said.

In March 2025, during a two-day visit to the Caribbean where he made stops in Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said China, a rich and powerful country, had “predatory practices”.

“What we have seen all over the world is that China comes in and says ‘Here’s a bunch of money’ for a project they never build. They bring their own workers to do work. They don’t hire the locals. They bring their own workers and oftentimes it comes attached with a huge loan that can never be repaid and now they hold it over your head forever,” Rubio said then.

“That’s our concern. Our concern is unfair practices where they come in, their government-subsidised companies underbid everybody because they are subsidised. But then they come back and charge you whatever they want because now they’ve got the contract. So, these are the things that we remain very concerned about and not specifically about Jamaica but in general,” the US’ top diplomat said.

At the Senate hearing, Lake buttressed those comments, noting that a core goal would be “countering China’s growing economic influence less than 500 miles from our shores”.

However, the embassy said US President Donald Trump’s visit to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping, in May 2026, marked a new era and vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.

The embassy urged the US to honour recent bilateral understandings, noting that stable China-US relations are critical for global well-being and require a long-term, constructive approach.

“The resources of LAC belong to the people there; the path of LAC countries should be chosen by their people, and the choice of friends is a decision for LAC countries alone,” the embassy asserted.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com