China in Guyana

geoeconomic interests and intra and extra-regional disputes

Abstract

This article aims to elucidate China's geoeconomic interests in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on China's activities in Guyana. Despite its strong trade union tradition and anti-imperialist aspirations, Guyana has remained dependent and susceptible to external interests even after its late independence in 1966. The discovery of oil reserves in the Essequibo region by a Sino-American consortium in 2015 exacerbated the dispute with Venezuela and highlighted China's interests in the region. Analyses concerning Guyana are scarce, and studies on China's presence in LAC tend to focus on the substitution of the United States by the Asian power. This article seeks to address this gap and present a perspective contrary to the idea of hegemonic substitution. The analysis is conducted through bibliographic review and data collection from sources such as AidData, the American Enterprise Institute, the IMF, SIPRI, and Trade Map. It argues that the financial symbiosis between Western and Chinese companies in Guyana refutes the zero-sum geoeconomic competition narrative between the United States and China, demonstrating a positive-sum geoeconomic game in the South American country.