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A BREACH IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD: THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) AND THE CARIBBEAN, 1949-1976

Ward, Jared A
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron155922997417231

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, History.
ABSTRACT The following dissertation examines the People's Republic of China's (PRC) foreign relations with the Caribbean during the Mao-Era (1949-1976). This dissertation relies on Chinese primary source collections, periodicals from China and the Caribbean, archival sources in the Caribbean and United States, and interviews to trace the evolution of China's relations with the region. In 1959, China gained its first ally in the region following the successful revolution of Fidel Castro. China played an important role in the early years of Castro's regime, competing with the USSR for pre-eminence in the communist world. However, Beijing's response to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 led Cuba to break ties with the PRC and set the tone for China's limited appeal to the region throughout the 1960s to fringe political radicals. In the late 1960s, China's objectives changed, and the Third World became a necessary buffer to offset worsening relations with Moscow and vacillations about rapprochement toward United States. The Anglophone Caribbean became an important space for China to show it was a different type of super-power; an atomic power that understood the pangs of colonialism viscerally. This dissertation is the first examination of China's relations with the Anglophone Caribbean during the Cold War. In 1972, Guyana and Jamaica became China's first two allies in the Anglophone Caribbean. Caribbean leaders like Forbes Burnham (Guyana) and Michael Manley (Jamaica) wrestled with what a relationship with China meant; a potential third way between the USSR and US, and an affirmation of non-alignment in foreign affairs, showing China's conflicting reputation across the Third World. China used cultural diplomacy to soften its image and create trans-national bonds. However, rhetorical help would only go so far, and the small Caribbean nations still faced sputtering economic development in the decade following independence. China became an unlikely engine for Guyana's Prime Minister Forbes Burnham’s campaign to "Feed, Clothe, and House the Nation"; Guyana became the site of China's first foreign aid project in the Western Hemisphere and worried lawmakers in Washington the small Caribbean nation was using the PRC as a model. This dissertation is the first examination of China's first foreign aid project in the Western Hemisphere, the Bel-Lu Clay Brick factory in Guyana including the building process, propaganda, and its legacies.
Michael Sheng (Advisor)
Walter Hixson (Committee Member)
Martin Wainwright (Committee Member)
Hongshan Li (Committee Member)
James Sperling (Committee Member)
232 p.
Asian Studies; Caribbean Studies; History
China; Caribbean; Mao Zedong; Chinese Foreign Policy; China and Caribbean

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Citations

  • Ward, J. A. (2019). A BREACH IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD: THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) AND THE CARIBBEAN, 1949-1976 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron155922997417231

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ward, Jared. A BREACH IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD: THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) AND THE CARIBBEAN, 1949-1976. 2019. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron155922997417231.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ward, Jared. "A BREACH IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD: THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) AND THE CARIBBEAN, 1949-1976." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron155922997417231

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.