China creeps onto US doorstep with attempt to establish apparent Caribbean satellite state
China’s plans to take action in Antigua-Barbuda, a Caribbean island nation, may signal its intentions for the Western Hemisphere.
China is following the historic lead of the United States by exercising its economic and militaristic muscles in the Western Hemisphere with the aim of attracting U.S. neighboring countries to its side. Beijing may be trying to create its own satellite state on the Caribbean, according to new documents.
U.S. Southern Command Comm. Gen. Laura Richardson told Congress recently in written testimony.
China’s plans to intervene in Antigua-Barbuda, a Caribbean island nation, may provide a glimpse into its future intentions for the Western Hemisphere.
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Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) is a member the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating China’s intrusion into the U.S. influence sphere. He told Just the News in a report on Monday that Beijing’s aggressive actions in the Caribbean reminded of the Soviet intervention in Fidel Cuba’s Cuba over a half-century earlier.
“It reminded me of Russia’s involvement with Cuba, which is only 220 miles from the US Virgin Islands.” Antigua is ours. It was once considered the United States’ back yard. Burlison said on the television program “Just the News, No Noise,” that it was now China’s backyard. “And China used the united front in loan agreements and contracts for trade zones to be created within Antigua to gain a foothold in the Caribbean,” Burlison told the television show, “Just the News, No Noise.”
“And this is only part of their global efforts, whether in African countries or Laos. He warned that they were creating a network in order to undermine the U.S. Dollar and to get around our tariffs and programs.
According to Newsweek, China plans to create a special economic zone on the island of Antigua. It is located 220 miles away from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Documents indicate that the area will be equipped with its own immigration and customs facilities, as well as a port for shipping and will issue passports. China will also set up different types of businesses, specializing in everything from facial surgery to virusology. The latter is closely related to the research conducted in Wuhan which is suspected as the source of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
SOUTHCOM spokesperson said the U.S. Military is “aware” that China could use its diplomatic and commercial presence to military purposes. China has already used commercial agreements in host country ports to achieve military goals in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. We are concerned that they could do the same thing here.
Beijing’s Belt-and-Road initiative is a program that lends money to developing countries to fund infrastructure projects. More than two thirds of the 31 nations in SOUTHCOM have signed on to it.
Beijing has seized the assets of several nations that have been unable to repay such loans. According to Foreign Policy, Sri Lanka, for example, struggled in 2017 to repay Beijing and instead signed the rights to an important port.
China could be the biggest security threat for the U.S. in the past 50 years, since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some officials have warned that a Cold War has already begun.
Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, said on the television program “Just the News, Not Noise”, last week, that “the United States is engaged in a Cold War against the Chinese Communist Party.” “America is losing this Cold War.”
Sobolik added that the Biden administration had also not helped matters. “The Chinese Communist Party wants to win a Cold War.” “The Chinese Communist Party is trying to win a Cold War,” said Biden.
Sobolik gave the response of the administration to the Chinese spy ball that was seen floating across the U.S. mainland last year as an example of lack of accountability. He claimed that the Biden Administration “tried” to cover up the balloon, even though the White House had previously denied the allegation.
While Antiguan prime minister Gaston Browne said to Newsweek that the West was not able to help, his country turned towards China.
He said: “I do see China as a nation that is based on the truth and that has at least some empathy for poor states and for dispossessed people around the world.”
Browne’s critics claim that he has surrendered the sovereignty of his country to China.
Gisele Isaac is the chairwoman of United Progressive Party which opposes Browne’s Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party.
Isaac said, “I believe that this administration is overly dependent on China, which is our main concern.”
