Caribbean-China relations: Foreign policy and small state economic adjustment

In recent years the relationship between Caribbean states and China has intensified. This dissertation argues that the Caribbean's increased engagement with China is an important component of their economic adjustment strategy that was necessitated after changes in the orientation of the international economic system that they must operate within, particularly in relation to the loss of trade preferences and the sharp decline in official development assistance. Despite the seemingly homogenous nature of these Caribbean states there is in fact significant foreign policy variation seen vis-a-vis engagement with China. Some Caribbean states have consistently recognized China, while others have vacillated between recognition of China and Taiwan. The source of this variation lies in differences in endowment of resources that are of strategic importance to China. The more resource-endowed countries demonstrate more foreign policy consistency while the resource-poor countries have exhibited a less consistent foreign policy towards China.;The dissertation also explores the extent to which the relationship with China is beneficial for these states. It will be shown that despite the lack of explicit conditionalities accompanying Chinese aid and loans, there are important implicit conditionalities such as the awarding of contracts to Chinese firms and the importation of Chinese laborers that thwart the potential benefits accruing to Caribbean states from this relationship with China.