This is the second report in a series of three studies into the economic and political influence of China in Latin American and the Caribbean, and the implications for the region’s relations with Europe and the US. The report presents the findings of our research about the Chinese presence in the Caribbean Basin: the Caribbean and Central America, including the Caribbean coast of South America and the Guyanas.

This is the second of three reports prepared for the China Knowledge Network (CKN). The research for and the production of the reports was carried out within the framework agreement for the CKN. The aim of the CKN is to promote strategic knowledge development about China for the national government of the Netherlands. Responsibility for the content and for the opinions expressed rests solely with the authors and does not constitute, and should not be construed as, an endorsement by the Secretariat of the China Knowledge Network and/or the commissioning ministries.

This CEDLA report is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0 Licence), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright is retained by the authors.
 

Recommended citation: Baud, M., Hogenboom, B., Gonzalez-Vicente, R., Pin, R. and Steinhöfel, D. (2022), China’s Economic and Political Role in the Caribbean and Central America (China’s Role in Latin America and the Caribbean, No. 2), Amsterdam: CEDLA–UvA.
 

About the authors 
 

• Barbara Hogenboom is Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Amsterdam and Director of the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA). She is Managing Editor of the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS).
   

• Michiel Baud is Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Amsterdam and former Director of CEDLA (2000–2017). Previously, he was Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Leiden (1995–2000).
   

• Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente is Associate Professor in Political Economy at the University of Birmingham. He previously worked at the City University of Hong Kong (2012–2016) and the University of Leiden (2017–2021). He is Editor at The People’s Map of Global China.
   

• Diego Steinhöfel is Research Assistant at CEDLA–UvA. He previously worked at Brot für die Welt (2021) and at German Development Cooperation, GIZ (2016–2019). He graduated in Latin American Studies from CEDLA.
   

• Renske Pin was raised in Curaçao. She works as an independent researcher for, and with, various knowledge institutes in the Caribbean region and founded RE-Quest Research & Consultancy. She worked as an Associated Professor at the University of the Netherlands Antilles and has a MSc diploma in Communication Sciences and a PhD in Behavioural Sciences.
   

The authors want to thank Glenn Thodé, Erwin Arkenbout, Iris Monnereau, Paul Tsjon sie Fat, Ranu Abhelakh, Gert Oostindie and all the interviewees in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten for their insights, which have helped to shape this report.
 

Design and Layout: Miren Zubizarreta.