Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/china-guyana-us-rubio-oil-f41d342bbdcf39bf1ae244bfab9f2fa6
Shown through some online comments a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Guyana, China took offense to how the South American country welcomed the US presence. The Guyanese President Irfaan Ali announced his oil-rich country would hold the US higher over other countries due to their pledge of a forcefully response if Venezuela were to try to annex some Guyanese territory involving huge oil and gas reserves as the neighboring country has threatened. China’s comments (through the Chinese Embassy in Guyana) specifically mentioned that China has always “put China-Guyana Friendship first” and “China has participated fully at the biggest economic and social transformation in the history of Guyana. Facts and figures speak louder than anything else”. The Chinese also mentioned their $1.4 billion in yearly trade with Guyana and other major infrastructure projects that Chinese firms are operating. After Marco Rubio traveled to Guyana, he visited Suriname in which he joked that the Chinese built roads in Guyana were terribly done. He also condemned China for bringing in their own workers to work on these projects, while also admiring that US businesses are not taking advantage of opportunities in the region that the Surinamese President agreed with.
This visit to Guyana and neighboring Suriname is most likely through the United States’ current goals (the Trump administration) to offset Chinese influence and power in the Americas. Just like in Panama, with Trump’s comments to “take back” the country, it is all to undermine Chinese influence and business. Additionally, oil-rich was mentioned often when bringing up Guyana, which the US sees as a strategic location to have ties to either through the abundance of resources as well as expanding the influence of US companies. With it’s fast growing economy, it seems that Guyana has been growing as a potential regional power due to the many resources found in the nation, so if the US has strong ties with one of the greater powers in the region, it can strengthen their total influence over the region. It seems unlikely that Venezuela will follow through in their threats to take parts of Guyana that they claim is theirs, especially with the US countering with their own harsh threats. Also, it is important to note the friendly relations between Venezuela and China that can provide better understanding for why the US so strongly supports one of Venezuela’s adversaries (Venezuela supports some of China’s issues relating to Iran and North Korea). In the future, we may see more China projects in Venezuela and allies to counter the US’s goals of growing their own influence.