The late Wilmot “Motty” Perkins, talk show host extraordinaire, oftentimes quoted a caller on the RJR Hotline programme hosted by our dear departed Jamaica Observer columnist Barbara Gloudon as saying, “Mrs Gloudon, me a tell you seh one a di Chiney woman dem can do five a wha di Jamaican woman dem can do!”

He did so to point out that Jamaican workers were sadly lacking in productivity, unlike their Chinese counterparts. Back then, it was the garment factory industry. Today, the Chinese have expanded their footprints to include major infrastructural works as well as big business ventures and real estate development. At the same time, in just about every nook and cranny of Jamaica there is a “Chiney shop” which is well supported by the respective communities in which they are located.

In the meantime, while the Chinese were busily wooing the Jamaican Government and private sector, the United States, once seen as a benevolent and friendly neighbour, had seemingly taken a back seat. After all, there was no longer an in-your-face Michael Manley — former prime minister of Jamaica — declaring, “We are not for sale,” while walking hand in hand to the mountaintop with Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro.

Indeed, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War had become somewhat tepid, and Jamaica, for all intents and purposes, had fully embraced the capitalist way of life, inclusive of Comrade Manley shunning his Kareeba and donning the symbolic Wall Street business suit. Indeed, while whispers of democratic socialism still pervaded the body politic, the People’s National Party (PNP) had reluctantly embraced the basic tenets of capitalism.

Remittances from the US are a leading foreign exchange earner for Jamaica.

Meanwhile, ironically, it was communist China that gradually came to the fore to help Jamaica reach the “Promised Land”, while Uncle Sam increasingly became bemused, bewildered, and seemingly bewitched. That is not to say that the love affair between Jamaica and the United States has ended. After all, it has been said that for every Jamaican at home, there is another abroad, most of whom are to be found in the United States, legally or illegally.

In this context, remittances from that country via the Jamaican Diaspora remain one of Jamaica’s largest foreign exchange inflows. Additionally, the acquisition of a US visa by many Jamaicans is next to being promised a safe and secure passage to Heaven when one dies. God bless America!

But this scenario has begun to take a dramatic turn with the advent of the Donald J Trump Administration which is beginning to feel like a spurned lover — a case of hot dogs versus chop suey. One wonders if this is a classic case of while the cat’s away the mice will play? Suffice it to say that the footprints that the Chinese have laid so far on Jamaican soil will not be so easily erased by threats emanating from Washington.

Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding courageously addressed this issue head-on — during a speech in Uncle Sam’s country to boot while addressing Jamaicans there — bemoaning the fact that the stance being taken by the US is far from being “friendly”.

Dr Andrew Holness (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Says he, “Dictating to us who we do business with is not friendship. Forcing us to accept foreign deportees when we are struggling to look after our own people is not friendship. True friends don’t abuse your friendship. They don’t make unreasonable demands on you.” The Chinese must be smiling.

Meanwhile, our Prime Minister Dr Andrew Michael Holness has seemingly chosen to tiptoe through the tulips while walking through the raindrops. And many Jamaicans do not blame him…”because him don’t want dem tek whey him visa”. Yes, for most Jamaicans, including our politicians, the almighty US visa is more important than patriotism or standing up to big, bad Uncle Sam (more so President Trump in this case).

So, as it stands, like the lyrics of a famous song says, Jamaica is “torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool, loving you both is breaking all the rules”. Except that in the final analysis, it is really torn between two titans, arguably the two most powerful countries economically, militarily, and otherwise on planet Earth — the USA and China.

Alas, poor Jamaica! How can it survive this geopolitical kerfuffle and remain truly independent, or must it play possum and hope that these two giants will find a way to coexist in our tropical space? A tricky situation indeed, as it is unlikely that any “bunning” can go on. In Jamaican parlance, “giving bun” means keeping one lover “on the side”. Will either Washington or Beijing be prepared to be the one “on the side”? Who will be the main man?

Ambassador Kari Lake has already fired a shot across the bow declaring that one of her priorities during her tour of duty will be to deal with the increased influence of the Chinese in Jamaica. In the meantime, the Chinese have remained relatively quiet on this issue, no doubt strategising while concretising their already massive footprint.

Given the belligerent nature of the Trump Administration, based on what has happened so far with Venezuela and Iran, Prime Minister Holness must be having many a sleepless night trying to figure out how to keep Jamaica unscathed should “fists begin to fly”.

In all of this, it can be said without fear of contradiction that within the last two decades the Chinese has done much more for Jamaica than the Americans. It would, therefore, behove the Americans to step up their game, in which case little Jamaica could become the crown jewel of the Western Hemisphere and the envy of small island developing states while maintaining its self-respect and patrimony. Otherwise, as the Chinese would be wont to say, we will be living in some very interesting times.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved in Jamaican media for the past 49 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.