Beware of the red peddlers of ignorance and fear for their own gain!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he fear-mongering continues. Last week, following some televised comments from a couple of hardly surprising sources about a leaked Cabinet conclusion that, in effect, waived visa requirements for Chinese citizens, the usual Facebook predictions started making the rounds. The baseless story was repeated around the more exclusive watering holes, always with additional predictions of gloom and doom: before long millions of Chinese would flood Saint Lucia; they would take over the private sector, the smaller business in particular. Suddenly “Dat man must go!” was the mantra of the moment.

Of course, those of us still living in real Saint Lucia, not the fake version, recall that as far back as 2011, maybe 2001, Chinese citizens have been pouring into Saint Lucia. There were regular complaints in Newsspin about their inconspicuous presence. From all I’ve gathered, these Chinese citizens continue to live here without reported problems. The unproven word is that a number of local business people serve as fronts “for Kenny Anthony’s Chinese”.   

Speaking of Kenny Anthony, as far back as August 1997, following an SLP victory at the polls in May of that year, he addressed the nation on establishing diplomatic ties with China: “In our election manifesto, the Saint Lucia Labour Party promised to sharpen the focus of its foreign policy on the objectives of the economic and social development of our country.”

Additionally: “The international context has changed . . . the majority of countries in the world today have full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. From the point of view of international law, the recognition of the administration on Taiwan as the Government of all China is not tenable. This is why countries ranging from the USA to Barbados have recognized the administration in Beijing as the legitimate government of China . . . Locally, our priorities have also changed from what the UWP Government was hoping for in 1984. Building a garment industry with Hong Kong capital is no longer the great objective that it appeared to be. Our commercial sector is now seeking new trading opportunities and new frontiers. Hong Kong is now the gateway to mainland China, with the vast trade possibilities which lie there.”

Dr. Anthony advised: “We must vigorously pursue a course of action which will bring maximum benefit to our country. By concluding diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, Saint Lucia will only be modernizing its foreign policy, and proceeding in a direction which the majority of the world’s states have already trod.”

I can recall that so enamoured was the SLP with the Chinese that then press secretary Earl Bousquet formed the Saint Lucia/China Association. In a Voice article I poked fun at the once-upon-a-time Rastafarian Bousquet’s switch from dashiki to “Mao suit”, to which he did not take too kindly. It should be noted that during the SLP’s first ten-year reign, there was no influx of Chinese investments here, save for a few Chinese restaurants here and there—one of which was Bousquet’s favourite meeting place.

The reality is that presently Chinese citizens can visit seven Caribbean countries, visa-free, for various periods:  Antigua and Barbuda (30 days); St Kitts and Nevis (90 days); Dominica (21 days); Barbados (30 days); Grenada (30 days); Jamaica (30 days) and now Saint Lucia.  Chinese citizens who wish to stay in our country must first satisfy local immigration authorities by answering the usual put to visitors, with or without visas. According to Henley Visa Restrictions Index 2017, Chinese are permitted visa-free access to 51 countries in the world. None of the named Caribbean islands has seen any mass invasion by the Chinese. In places like Trinidad & Tobago, where the Chinese represent 3% of the approximately 1.3 million population, Trinis eat no less doubles, roti,  pelau or even KFC than they do Chinese food.

A June 2011 Times article observed: “It’s hard to argue that the rise of China, taken on the whole, is anything but good for the global economy. New wealth for China’s 1.3 billion people means 1.3 billion more people who can buy stuff from the rest of the world, creating jobs from American research labs to Japanese industrial zones to Brazilian mines. A global economy no longer solely dependent on the US consumer for growth is potentially more stable and prosperous.”

The onus is on us to teach our children to see the new reality and the opportunities that these so-called global superpowers like China possess. The fear that some of us are selfishly seeking to create is obviously counter-productive and an only stagnate our efforts at becoming a progressive society.

The question begs: as business people and educators, what are we doing to empower our citizens and our youth to become more marketable and begin to see the world as our access markets beyond our 238-square-mile rock which, by design, will forever be limited in resources? The choice is clear: we can remain in our state of xenophobia and hate-mongering or embrace the new reality of a global open space. And like Karl Augustus Menninger once said: “Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.”