Current Events & Trends: China enters the Caribbean
Older Americans well remember the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 when the Soviet Union tried to establish a nuclear military base in America's own backyard.
President John Kennedy brought the country through that ominous threat to world peace without a shot being fired. Now an emergent China has chosen economic strategy as a potential threat to American dominance in the Caribbean.
The Financial Times recently published a major analysis describing China's inroads into the West Indies titled "Caribbean in Crisis: Chequebook Diplomacy." The blurb beneath the headline reads, "With the US becoming an absentee superpower in the region, the Chinese are moving in"—the article pointing out that China is underpinning its overtures with infrastructure investments (Robin Wigglesworth, Dec. 17, 2013).
The analysis points out that signs of China's presence are everywhere. More disturbing is the sentiment voiced by a prominent Chinese official: "'In entering the Caribbean, China doesn't really care about the US's feelings, it mainly cares about how the countries there see us,' says Wang Peng, secretary-general of the Central America and Caribbean Research Centre at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank" (ibid.).
Regional politicians have eagerly welcomed these Chinese incursions, as they perceive America becoming an absentee superpower preoccupied by domestic interests and only certain foreign involvements elsewhere. The Chinese president has apparently promised a $3 billion investment in the region.
In 2001 President George W. Bush declared the Caribbean area America's "third border." He reapplied the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 to the region, reaffirming American hegemony here. The Financial Times analysis concluded with a quote from Cheng Li, a senior official at the Brookings Institution, a prominent American think tank: "The US should pay more attention to China in the Caribbean, even if it is only at an early stage." (Source: Financial Times.)
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
