Whether it chooses to take sides or not, the Caribbean is about to find itself swept up into the now almost inevitable superpower confrontation between the United States and China.
Speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on 23 July, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, brought together in ideological terms the threads of the Administration’s long-trailed strategic policy and belief in its continuing exceptionalism. “Securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time, and America is perfectly positioned to lead it because our founding principles give us that opportunity”, Mr Pompeo told his audience in a speech, ‘Communist China and the Free World’s Future’.
The absence of nuance made clear that the Trump Administration expects every country to now join in its endeavour.
The outcome is however uncertain. Unlike the previous sometimes close to hot war with an economically and intellectually impoverished former Soviet Union, in this confrontation the US does not necessarily have the long term economic and military supremacy to outrun China, let alone have global sentiment on its side.
