by ANDREW LUMSDEN
There are more people unemployed in Jamaica in Jan 2015 than Jan 2014 IMAGE/Jamaica Observer
On May 26, 2015, Li Keqiang, the Premier of the People’s Republic of China spoke before the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC). He urged greater economic cooperation between Latin American and Caribbean nations and Beijing. Since the opening of the 21st century, China has exponentially increased its direct investment in the developing world, and now the Chinese treasure ship has landed on the island of Jamaica. In the wake of slow economic growth, increasing debt, and declining infrastructure, Kingston has eagerly engaged with Chinese companies. The government bills its engagement with China as a chance to improve infrastructure, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth on the island. The government, however, demonstrates no clear understanding of China’s record in previous dealings with developing nations, specifically sub-Saharan Africa, and the socio-economic and environmental consequences brought on by engagement with China.
In recent years, Jamaica has deepened its relationship with China. In August 2012, during Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller’s visit to Beijing, Chinese Head of State Xi Jinping announced that Jamaica had become his country’s top trading partner in the Caribbean. State-run Chinese enterprises have also undertaken major infrastructure development projects on the island. A convention center, bridges, roads, and, most notably, the Highway 2000 North-South Link, which connects the north coast city of Ocho Rios to the capital, Kingston, are among some of these projects. China’s state-run China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), which is constructing the link, is scheduled to pay the entire $610 million USD project cost.[1] CHEC, which has been sanctioned by the World Bank, the United States, and the Asian Development Bank for corruption and fraud, has also been contracted by the Jamaican government for a number of public works projects across the country.[2] The Chinese government has also provided millions in loans to Jamaica, which, as of June 2015, is $24.7 billion USD in debt to China.[3]
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Chinese hiring practices in Africa and Jamaica
The Jamaican government has promised that the port project would create jobs for Jamaicans. However, cases in Africa suggest that this claim may need more scrutiny. In his chapter China’s African Relations and the Balance with Western Powers, Suisheng Zhao, director of the University of Denver’s Center for China–U.S. Cooperation explains, “Chinese companies have tended to keep local hiring to a minimum,” preferring instead to bring in cheap labor from China.[11] Zhao cites Angola as an example, where Chinese companies hire 70 to 80 percent of their labor force directly from China. It is worth noting that China’s foreign investment may not actually be meant to provide meaningful employment to locals. In 2009, Zhao Zhihai, a researcher with the Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Heibei Province near Beijing, proposed before the National People’s Congress, China’s nominal legislature, that sending Chinese laborers to Africa could provide about 100 million jobs and solve the problem of unemployment in China.[12] While these ideas were not publically adopted by the Chinese government, the presence of such ideas in Chinese political discourse, as well as China’s trend of importing labor from home and restricting local hiring, should be cause for concern for those looking to Chinese investment as a solution to unemployment—in Jamaica and elsewhere.
Council on Hemispheric Affairs for more