EDITORIAL - Time for China studies institute

The Jamaica-China Friendship Association is not often, or sufficiently, publicly heard on major policy issues.

That is not because it does nothing, or lacks a point of view. Indeed, the association has been organising tours to China long before it was fashionable to do so. While the primary aim of these tours is to advance social and cultural dialogue between the two countries, there are political and economic spin-offs.

Last week, however, the association broke new ground when it hosted a forum in Kingston on doing business in China.

More than 400 people, including government ministers, diplomats, officials from Chinese firms operating here, and Jamaicans keen on doing business in China, turned out, which underlined the success of the event. It also, we believe, highlights Jamaica's information deficit on China, a growing eagerness to close that gap, and the opportunity for institutional arrangements to do this.

China's growing economic importance

Or, more to the point, China is economically important to Jamaica and will become even more so. Indeed, most, if not all, major infrastructure projects in Jamaica at this time are Chinese financed.

China's EXIM Bank, for instance, has provided loans of US$400 million for the major road- and bridge-rehabilitation projects started by the former administration, and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is committed to investing billions of dollars on toll roads and port infrastructure and houses. Additionally, it was a Chinese firm that acquired the last of the Government's sugar assets.

It is important, therefore, for Jamaica to know who it has to deal with, and to develop - if it can - special relationships with its potential partners and leverage these to the hilt. In this regard, Jamaica brings to the table advantages of size and/or economic strength.

First, we have had diplomatic relations with China for 40 years and have maintained a consistent and nuanced foreign policy that Beijing understands to be principled. Diplomatically, Jamaica punches above its weight in the global sphere. We are the political leader of the Caribbean Community, a bloc of 14 votes at the United Nations that Beijing can ill-afford to ignore. And as CHEC is demonstrating, geographically, Kingston is a potential bridge for economic forays into the rest of the Caribbean and Central and South America.

In leveraging these assets at the business and broader economic levels, Jamaica must be fully au fait not only with the specific contracts, but the nuances of China's politics and social dynamics and how these frame economic relations.

For instance, a transition begins in China in October when the Communist Party will select its top leadership. Xi Jinping is tipped to become its head and ultimate president, replacing Hu Jintao, who visited Jamaica in 2009. While appreciating that the foundation of Jamaica-China relations is built on far more than personalities, understanding the trajectory of Mr Xi's career, we feel, is nonetheless important in formulating foreign policy and related strategies for engaging Beijing.

Here is where we believe that an institution like the University of the West Indies, Mona, can play a critical role, going beyond the narrow scope of cultural exchange which occupies the Confucius Institute. The university would find value, we believe, in developing, along with the Jamaica-China Friendship Association, a think tank or China studies institute that focuses on practical economic and political issues, of the kind that were discussed last week.

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