Grenada considers adopting Chinese development blueprint

Grenada is working with China prepare a national development plan 36 years after the Caribbean island-nation was invaded by American forces due to concerns in Washington that its government was too close to the Soviet and Cuban communist regimes.

If the Mitchell administration accepts the plan, it would become the first in the world to opt for the wholesale adoption of a Chinese development blueprint.

According to sources at the Chinese foreign ministry, the China Development Bank, at the request of the Grenadian government, is helping them draft a national development strategy”.

The sources said the Grenadian government “assumed the primary responsibility for the development of their own country” and that China was “willing to provide necessary assistance to their economic and social development upon request”.

Wang Yingjie, a lead researcher involved in the drafting of the Grenada national development strategic plan, told reporters that the plan had been completed and “should be in the hands of the Grenadian government already”. The Grenadian government announced its national strategic plan 2030 in November 2014.

The Chinese development blueprint envisions the construction of massive infrastructure projects on the island-nation. The blueprint includes the construction of a highway connecting the major towns on its main island – which is about 4 times the size of Hong Kong Island – and a railway line encircling it. The plan also calls for the building of deepwater ports that could accommodate a large number of cruise and cargo ships, a large wind farm to replace diesel-fuelled generators and a modernized airport with more, longer runways. It also sees a future for Grenada as an offshore tax haven for foreign companies or individuals.

Last year, Guyana, signed onto China’s multi billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), for enhanced cooperation in 5 main areas such as policy coordination, facilities connectivity, trade and investment, financial integration, and people-to-people interaction. Public infrastructure is also expected to be a major focus under this agreement.

Grenada and China first established diplomatic relations in 1985. But that was broken in 1989, prompting Beijing to sever diplomatic ties to Grenada. This position was reversed in 2005 when the Mitchell-led Government renewed diplomatic relations with Beijing.

China has lifted 740 million of its people – in rural areas – out of poverty from 1978 to 2017, roughly 19 million each year. Between 1978 and 2017, China’s economy expanded at an annual average 9.5 percent growth rate, increasing in size almost 35 times.