NASSAU, the Bahamas — A brand new $35 million stadium opened here in the Bahamas a few weeks ago, a gift from the Chinese government.
NASSAU市,巴哈马--- 就在几个星期前一个造价3500万美元的全新体育场在这里落成，一份由中国政府送给巴哈马的小礼物。
The tiny island nation of Dominica has received a grammar school, a renovated hospital and a sports stadium, also courtesy of the Chinese. Antigua and Barbuda got a power plant and a cricket stadium, and a new school is on its way. The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago can thank Chinese contractors for the craftsmanship in her official residence.
China’s economic might has rolled up to America’s doorstep in the Caribbean, with a flurry of loans from state banks, investments by companies and outright gifts from the government in the form of new stadiums, roads, official buildings, ports and resorts in a region where the United States has long been a prime benefactor.
The Chinese have flexed their economic prowess in nearly every corner of the world. But planting a flag so close to the United States has generated intense vetting — and some raised eyebrows — among diplomats, economists and investors.
目前中国人已经在世界各个角落展现中国的经济实力。但是如此之近的在美国周边进行投资造成美国的警惕---有一些人皱起了眉头---包括一些美国国内的外交官，经济学家和投资者。
“When you’ve got a new player in the hemisphere all of a sudden, it’s obviously something talked about at the highest level of governments,” said Kevin P. Gallagher, a Boston University professor who is an author of a recent report on Chinese financing, “The New Banks in Town.”
有关中国经济"The New Banks in Town"一书的作者，波士顿大学教授Kevin P.Gallagher告诉记者：“当你在自己的领地上发现突然出现一名新竞争者时，很显然所有人们谈论的事情都会上升到国家政治高度。”
Most analysts do not see a security threat, noting that the Chinese are not building bases or forging any military ties that could invoke fears of another Cuban missile crisis. But they do see an emerging superpower securing economic inroads and political support from a bloc of developing countries with anemic budgets that once counted almost exclusively on the United States, Canada and Europe.
大部分析家并没有将中国投资视为一种安全威胁，不像古巴导弹危机中国人并没有在当地修建军事基地或者和军方有任何联系。但他们也指出中国（一个未来的超级大国）正在对这些加勒比国家经济侵蚀和政治扶持，而过去这些发展中国家的扶贫资金完全是依赖美国，加拿大和欧洲。
China announced late last year that it would lend $6.3 billion to Caribbean governments, adding considerably to the hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, grants and other forms of economic assistance it has already channeled there in the past decade.
Unlike in Africa, South America and other parts of the world where China’s forays are largely driven by a search for commodities, its presence in the Caribbean derives mainly from long-term economic ventures, like tourism and loans, and potential new allies that are inexpensive to win over, analysts say.
American diplomatic cables released through WikiLeaks and published in the British newspaper The Guardian quoted diplomats as being increasingly worried about the Chinese presence here “less than 190 miles from the United States” and speculating on its purpose. One theory, according to a 2003 cable, suggested that China was lining up allies as “a strategic move” for the eventual end of the Castro era in Cuba, with which it has strong relations.
英国的一份报纸“卫报”援引由维基解密公布的美国外交电文，美国的外交官们对中国人出现在“离美国不到190公里的地方”越来越表示担心并猜测中国人的意图。有一种说法，根据一份2003年的外交电文提到，中国在加勒比的投资是一种结交当地新盟友的“战略手段”，以便对将来古巴卡斯特罗时代的结束做好准备。
But the public line today is to be untroubled.
然而一般民众对于中国出现在加勒比则反应平淡。
“I am not particularly worried, but it is something the U.S. should continue to monitor,” said Dennis C. Shea, the chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan Congressional panel. But, he added, “With China you have to be wary of possible policy goals behind the effort.”
中美经济与安全审查委员会主席,两党国会小组成员Dennis C. Shea告诉记者：“我（对中国人出现在加勒比）就不担心，但是美国应该持续监督中国人在加勒比的一举一行。”同时他补充道：“和中国打交道，你必须关注那些隐藏在(投资)后边的政治意图。”
This archipelago, less than a one-hour flight from Florida, has gotten particular attention from the Chinese. Aside from the new stadium, with its “China Aid” plaque affixed prominently at the entrance, Chinese workers here in the Bahamas are busy helping build the $3.5 billion Baha Mar, one of the region’s largest megaresorts.
Beyond that, a Chinese state bank agreed in recent weeks to put up $41 million for a new port and bridge, and a new, large Chinese Embassy is being built downtown.
The new stadium here, Bahamian officials said, was in part a reward for breaking ties with Taiwan in 1997 and establishing and keeping relations with China.
It is one of several sporting arenas that China has sprinkled in Caribbean and Central American nations as gratitude for their recognition of “one China” — in other words, for their refusal to recognize Taiwan, which Chinese officials consider part of their country.
“They offered a substantial gift and we opted for a national stadium,” said Charles Maynard, the Bahamian sports minister, adding that his government could never have afforded to build it on its own.
In this enduring tug of war with Taiwan, others have switched, too, with a little financial encouragement. Grenada ended relations with Taiwan in 2004, and it is now in talks with China about getting a new national track and field stadium. The parting has not been entirely amicable; Taiwan and Grenada are nowlocked in a financial dispute over loans that Grenada received to finance the construction of its airport.
在这场中国与台湾地位的持久拉锯战上，一点小小的金钱奖励就会改变其他人的立场。比如格林纳达就在2004年断绝了与台湾的关系，而现在(格林纳达)正在与中国谈判，希望得到一个全新的国家田径场。而(格林纳达与台湾)离别并不完全友好;台湾和格林纳达现在就因为格林纳达新机场贷款纠纷问题而僵持不下。
Determined not to be sidelined, Taiwan is seeking to solidify its existing relationships with countries like Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia — which in 2007 broke relations with China in favor of Taiwan — with a bevy of projects, many of them agricultural, including an agreement signed with Belize in recent weeks to develop the fish farming industry there.
Still, Taiwanese diplomats in the region conceded that they could never keep up with China’s largess but continued to make strategic investments in the Caribbean.
There are some commodities in the region that China wants. In August, a Chinese company, Complant, bought the last three government sugar estates in Jamaica and leased cane fields, for a total investment of $166 million. Last year, Jamaica for the first time shipped its famed Blue Mountain Coffee to China.
The Jamaican government has also received several hundred million dollars in loans from China, including $400 million announced in 2010 over five years to rebuild roads and other infrastructure.
“In order to be prosperous you need to build roads first,” said Adam Wu, an executive with China Business Network, a consulting group for Chinese businesses that has been making the case for China in several Caribbean countries.
作为一家为中国企业在加勒比国家提供咨询的公司，中国商务网经理Adam Wu告诉记者：“要想富，先修路！”。
Several analysts in the Caribbean say they believe that China eventually will emerge as a political force in the region, with so many countries indebted to it, at a time when the United States is perceived as preoccupied with the Middle East and paying little attention to the region.
“They are buying loyalty and taking up the vacuum left by the United States, Canada and other countries, particularly in infrastructure improvements,” said Sir Ronald Sanders, a former diplomat from Antigua and Barbuda.
“If China continues to invest the way it is doing in the Caribbean, the U.S. is almost making itself irrelevant to the region,” he added. “You don’t leave your flank exposed.”
他补充道："如果中国继续像这样在加勒比国家投资的话，过不了多久美国人会发现美国和这里(加勒比)没有任何联系。""(建议美国)不要将你的侧翼暴露(中国)。"
In some places, Chinese contractors or workers have stayed on, beginning to build communities and businesses. So many have opened in Roseau, Dominica, that local merchants have complained about being squeezed out.
Trinidad and Tobago has had waves of Chinese immigration over the past century, but locals are now seeing more Chinese restaurants and shops, as well as other signs of a new immigrant generation.
“I am second-generation Trinidadian-Chinese, and like most of us of this era, we have integrated very well in society, having friends, girlfriends, spouses and kids with people of other ethnicities,” said Robert Johnson-Attin, 36, a mechanical engineer now with his own successful business. “It’ll only be a matter of time before it happens with the Chinese coming in now.”
Robert Johnson-Attin, 36岁, 一名机械工程师告诉记者：”我是第二代特立尼达籍中国人，像这个时代的我们大部分人一样，我们和当地社会相处融洽。我们和其他本地人一样有好朋友，女朋友，配偶和孩子。““对于新来的中国移民(融入当地社会)这只不过是一个时间问题。”
Here in the Bahamas, Tan Jian, the economic counselor at the Chinese Embassy, said he that believed “it’s only the start” of the Chinese presence across the Caribbean, casting it as one developing country using its growing economic power to help other developing ones.
The Bahamian government, he said, “cannot afford to build huge projects by itself.”
谈到巴哈马政府，他说道：“他们无法承担建造如此巨大工程项目的费用。”
While the Chinese built the stadium, the Bahamas is responsible for utility hookups and the roads and landscaping outside it.
当中国人在建造体育场时，巴哈马人则是负责体育场外部管道设施，周边道路和绿化带。
The $35 million gift “is costing us $50 million,” said Mr. Maynard, the sports minister. “But at the end of the day it will pay for itself” by putting the Bahamas in position to host major sporting events and reap the tourism revenue that comes with that.
For Baha Mar, the Chinese Export-Import Bank is financing $2.6 billion, nearly three-quarters of the cost, and China’s state construction company is a partner.
The Bahamas agreed to allow up to 8,000 foreign workers, most of them Chinese, to work on the project in stages, but it also required employment for 4,000 Bahamians, dampening concerns that Chinese workers were taking jobs. American companies will also take part in building and running it.
Mr. Jian played down any economic competition with the United States, whose tourists, he asserted, stood to benefit from China’s presence in the Caribbean. The Chinese workers here live in barracks behind the project fences, largely shielded from public view.
“We hardly know they are here,” said James Duffy, watching a track practice next to the stadium one recent afternoon, adding with a chuckle: “Except for the big things they build.”
James Duffy一下午都在观察体育馆旁边的一条跑道施工，他笑道：”除了那些他们(中国工人)建造的巨大建筑物，我们几乎感觉不到他们(中国工人)就生活在我们周围。“
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以下是评论。
NYT PICKS 纽约时报推荐的评论：
calhouri cost rica 来自哥斯达尼加,推荐74人。
Down here in Costa Rica, the brand new (and beautiful) Estadio Nacional was a gift from the Chinese government, largely for the same reason as in Bahama (i.e., recognition of PRC as the sole govt of China). Otherwise their footprint (unlike that of the US, cf it's grandise bunker-like embassy) is very small. There has always been a significant Chinese population here, but unlike the gringos, who tend to cluster, it is well integrated with the general population. Which only supports my own observation that in matters diplomatic, the Chinese are as deft as the US is ham-handed.
April 8, 2012 at 2:34 a.m. RECOMMENDED 74
Why not. The developed world have long neglected this part of the globe, in spite of the fact that these areas are the most stable and democratic of most countries. And their are huge resources, especially in Trinidad & Tobago where crude, asphalt, and natural gas is abundant. Not lets see how the US and others respond.
April 8, 2012 at 3:00 a.m. RECOMMENDED19
Make no mistake - it is all about strategy for China. In Trinidad - my home country - we have plenty of natural gas and oil. At a certain point on the island you can see the coastline of Venezuela (at a certain point it s only 9 miles between Trinidad and Venezuela.
The Chinese gave us money to rebuild our National Performing Arts Centre which looks like the Performing Arts centre in Sydney, Australia. They brought in their labor - although our Government did insist on using some local labor - and they are working on other ventures in Trinidad.
The US had a military base on Trinidad and while the land was given back to the Trinidadian Government, I believe there is a clause somewhere that if needed the "Yankees" as they say will be back. There is a strong US presence in Trinidad. I was shocked the other day as we were hanging out at a Marina I turned my head to look out to see two US Coastguard boats. My sister said that is normal now and recently I believe joint military exercises started between the US and Trinidadian forces.
With Venezuela so close to Trinidad do not doubt that the US is keeping a close eye. We have just about every oil company and oil company subsidiary operating in Trinidad and a few years ago Continental started direct flights from Houston to Trinidad. Two thirds of natural gas imports come from Trinidad.
I am not sure about the other islands but I know Uncle Sam keeps a very close eye on Trinidad, especially with Chavez right next door.
只要委内瑞拉靠近特立尼达，不用怀疑美国肯定是紧紧盯住特立尼达。我们几乎所有石油公司和石油子公司都在特里尼达有生意业务和几年前就有从休斯敦直航到特立尼达的航班。美国进口的天然气有三分之二是来自特立尼达和多巴哥。我不清楚其他的岛屿，但我知道山姆大叔肯定是密切关注特立尼达，尤其是当查韦斯就在特立尼达的隔壁。
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Alan Kimmel Chicago, Illinois 来自美国芝加哥，推荐51人。
So the Chinese are financing stadiums, schools, ports, resorts,, hospitals, and other major projects in the Caribbean. Why is this seen as a threat to us? Such investments should be welcomed as helping to develop the economies of these countries on our doorstep. If nothing else, it is an example of peaceful competition—where everyone can win.
April 8, 2012 at 4:12 a.m. RECOMMENDED51
Visited Dominica in February, meeting with a well-educated native entrepreneur. The stadium and hospital along with a short road improvement are daily symbols of gifts from a friendly nation. There is a university building under construction complements of the Chinese too. My friend is balanced about this. He wishes that the US would participate in more than tourism (now the #1 industry thanks to cruise ship passengers). Particularly in the health care area. But his ideology is swayed by what he sees as helps to his people.
Dominica is mountainous and lush. And poor. Those not in tourism eek out a living in agriculture. A friendly people who are hopeful, the promises of more from the Chinese are a simple trade off for votes in the UN.
Remember Grenada in the 1980's, when Marines were called out to halt a military regime that caused threat to the OAS and the US medical students on the island. How would this "go down" on an island with extensive Chinese investment? Wonder what the late Bob Marley would think? Is this a true liberation for the people of the region?
As a Bahamian, I fear the worst thing we could have done was to accept these "gifts" from China. However, there is not much one can do when a poitical party with litte foresight and on its way out tries to garner votes by accepting such deals to impress the voting public. The Chinese government never gives anything for free and it is only a matter of time before our tiny island nation is put in a compromising position that may jeopardise our relations with America and Europe. The stadium was a mistake and Baha-mar is a huge mistake, one we will greatly regret in the very near future. At 353,000 we are too small to ever be competely independent of any world power, at least with the American's their intentions are evident, but with the Chinese you just never know.
I teach at a public university in China. Many of the buildings are in terrible shape and the students complain about them constantly. Wait until I tell my students on Monday that the same government that can't afford to give them decent housing can afford to spend billions on schools in a country on the other side of the world. They won't be happy.
April 8, 2012 at 11:16 p.m. RECOMMENDED8
我在一所中国公立大学教书。经常有学生向我抱怨，学校里许多建筑物的外形长的难看。等到下个礼拜一我会告诉我的学生，在地球的另一边这个无法向他们提供时髦学生公寓的政府(中国)正在花费数十亿美金帮助其他人修建学校。我猜他们听过后可能会不高兴。
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Mann New Jersey 来自美国新泽西州，推荐9人。
If this were a game of Risk, China's pieces would be on a great many fronts, with plenty more where they came from! And we would be shaking our heads wondering 'how could this have happened.' Wake up USA! China makes money not war (at least, not at this moment). HA!
April 8, 2012 at 11:32 p.m. RECOMMENDED9
如果这算是一个冒险游戏。中国已经超越我们很远了，而且他们还能从老家(中国)源源不断的带来东西。而我们只是不停摇晃我们的脑袋 "这到底是怎么发生？" 醒一醒吧，美国！ 中国只是想来赚钱并不是为了战争(至少不是现在想要开战)，哈哈!
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Rudolph New York 来自美国纽约市，推荐21人。
So it is OK for the USAID to build schools, hospitals, roads all over the Far East (Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Philippines, South Korea, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc.) but for China to do the same in a poverty stricken Caribbean is a no-no. Also with Obama's latest goal to strengthen US Military bases within short flying distance from Beijing (starting with Darwin) is OK but Chinese forces in the Caribbean or Central America would not be tolerated. Typical American spirit: I will have it both ways and you do as I tell you.
April 8, 2012 at 11:32 p.m. RECOMMENDED21
对于美国援助来说就没问题，我们在全中东(巴基斯坦，印度，菲律宾，南韩，阿富汗)建造学校，医院，道路； 但是中国在加勒比沿岸做同样的事就不行？ 同样的，奥巴马最新的全球战略把美国军事基地设立在离北京只有很短航程的冲绳岛，而有人却无法容忍中国军队出现在加勒比或中美洲？典型的美国标准：我可以为所欲为，但你只能听我的。
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PhillipSan Jose, CA 来自美国加利福尼亚州圣何塞，推荐79人。
LOL.. US have military forces in South Korea, and Japan. Those countries are in China 's "backyard", Now, the US is complaining because China build a couple of buildings? What a joke.
April 8, 2012 at 2:14 a.m. RECOMMENDED79
What - we intervened, seized property, invaded and/or occupied 13 Caribbean countries on at least a couple of dozen occasions, and now we're experssing righteous indignation at China's lending or giving them money - US money at that, that we willingly forked over thanks to our own inadequate manufacturing infrastructure? Pretty funny.
April 8, 2012 at 2:34 a.m. RECOMMENDED75
While China used it's cash to buy up the world as their friend, America spend all it's cash to built up the military machine and flush all our goodwill and cash down the toilet.
The only America winners in this mess are the military supplier and it's contractor. Oh, and all the senators who are in these people's pocket.
April 8, 2012 at 4:01 a.m. RECOMMENDED67
当中国人利用手中钞票购买全世界(所有国家)作为他们的朋友时，美国人则在浪费钞票制造军事武器并且将我们的善意和钞票统统冲进了马桶。
美国人在(国内)这个烂摊子上的唯一赢家就是军队供应商和承包商。哦，还有所有(美国)参议员也是装在这些人的口袋里。
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gardens20 New Jersey 新泽西，推荐66人
Thanks to George Bush & Co. for the two wars he got us into for squandering our human treasure and our Treasury, thus allowing China to sneak in our back door while we were otherwise pre-occupied.
April 8, 2012 at 2:35 a.m. RECOMMENDED66
It is amazing how far we have come from being ready to go to war with the Soviet Union and risk a nuclear confrontation to prevent them from getting a foothold in our backyard to accepting China coming into the same place with their brand of influence and hidden agenda, which does not bother our politicians one iota that the Chinese are eating our lunch on a global scale, and now in our own neighborhood. It seems Congree is more concerned with preventing universal health care for Americans than universal economic domination by the Chinese.
April 8, 2012 at 2:18 a.m. RECOMMENDED50
太令人吃惊了，就在不久之前我们(美国)还在准备同苏联进行战争并且冒着核战的危险以阻止苏联人在我们后院(加勒比)得到立足点。而现在中国带着他们的影响力和不可告人的目的来到我们的后院，这些却丝毫没引起我们政治家的注意。中国人正在全球范围内吃掉(原本属于)我们的午餐，而现在他们(中国人)出现在我们的邻居家里。看起来美国议员们对阻止(美国国内)医疗改革比(美国)经济遭受中国威胁更感兴趣。
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Tim Lavalli Berkeley, CA 来自伯克利，推荐48人
This is a threat but 60 years of U.S. involvement in Taiwan is not?
April 8, 2012 at 2:32 a.m. RECOMMENDED48
This is not new. The U.S. has always ignored helping its Latin neighbors develop. If the U.S. wanted to help build a sronger region of the Americas, from North America to South America, it could. But the U.S. lacks vision, imagination, and smart leadership. Instead, it wastes billions fighting wars in the Middle East and Asia. Crazy, really.
April 8, 2012 at 4:01 a.m. RECOMMENDED42
这没有什么新奇的。美国总是会忘记帮助他的拉丁美洲邻居。如果美国愿意建立一个横跨北美到南美的强大美洲，愿望是可以实现的。但是(目前)美国缺乏远见，想象力和明智的领袖。相反，它只会在中东和亚洲的战争中浪费数十亿美元。真是太疯狂。
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Prof. Carlos Vieira Rio de Janeiro 来自巴西里约热内卢，推荐40人
Business is Chinese best business.
North-Americans are busy protecting Israel.
Carlos Vieira
Rio de Janeiro
United States of Brasil
April 8, 2012 at 5:54 a.m. RECOMMENDED40
Gifts from the US always take the form of military hardware, training military units in repression of democratic movements, crowd control technology, and how to violate human rights in as intimidating a manner as possible, worse even than the tactics used by the NYPD. American business installs puppet regimes that crush and impoverish the local workforce and extract profits to off-shore (not domestic US) bank accounts.American military planners and right-wing politicians cram the "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism" down the throats of developing economies, further militarizing US client states.
The bad news is that as the US is kicked out of more corners of the developing world, the only targets for exploitation and repression left for the military-corporate machine to plunder are within the borders of the USA.
Now is a good time to leave if you can swing it.
April 8, 2012 at 2:55 a.m. RECOMMENDED40
如果(美国)能回心转意，现在还有时间。
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dg Kansas City, MO 推荐38人
I think this is wonderful. The world's newest economic superpower is taking its turn in providing aid to international development, What's wrong with that?
April 8, 2012 at 4:12 a.m. RECOMMENDED38
我认为这样做(中国投资加勒比)太棒了。世界新兴经济强权提供国际发展援助，那有什么不好的？
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kc new england 推荐34人
George W. Bush's $10 Billion a month war debt sure leaves the US out of the world picture; Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The GOP created this mess and now they want to "rescue" the US from socialism? The single most destructive Presidency in the history the US continues to destroy our future. China fills vacuums, we can't fill pot holes here.
If nothing else, China shows what a strong centralized government can do at home and around the world. Since our privacy has been reduced to strip searches for jaywalking which government is more of a threat? China’s or our own?
April 8, 2012 at 8:44 a.m. RECOMMENDED34
布什的每个月高达100亿的战争债务让美国远离了中美洲，南美洲，还有加勒比。共和党造成这样一个烂摊子，而现在他们还想要“拯救”美国远离社会主义？美国历史上最具破坏性的总统任期还将继续破坏我们的未来。中国填补了(美国)真空，而我们(美国)则没有立足之地。不出意料，中国向世界展示了一个强有力的中央集权政府它不仅适用于中国也可以适用于世界各地。(美国《反恐法案》)为了不违法而脱衣搜身已经减少了我们的隐私。到底哪个政府才是更大的威胁？中国的？还是我们自己？
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Dr WU hotel calif 推荐34人
Stop worrying about the Chinese! They don't cause our troubles-our tanking economy, our Muslim wars. I suppose, though, it's a lot easier focusing on foreign menace then fixing our own shop.
April 8, 2012 at 2:26 a.m. RECOMMENDED34
The U.S. talks big, but that's mostly all it is - talk. Most nations recognize that we've become nothing but hot air - violating our supposed values left and right - both in the U.S. and overseas. Our record of recent 'accomplishments' is an embarrassment, as is our paralyzed, discordant government and enormous trade, federal, and consumer deficits.
April 8, 2012 at 7:44 a.m. RECOMMENDED31
Different cultures, different policies. Our western imperialism has always been military based. China's has historically been immigration based but thanks to US cash flowing in, they can now add fiscal largess to their outreach policies. We have been outmaneuvered and relegated to second place by a nation who understands patience and the gradual unfolding of an agenda rather than military conquest. Sic semper tyrannis.
April 8, 2012 at 4:01 a.m. RECOMMENDED30
(中美两国)不同文化背景，不同政治环境。西方帝国主义一直是以军事为基础。中国在历史上都是以民族迁移为基础，然而(中国)要感谢美元的大量涌入，他们现在可以为中国的宣传政策增加财政投入。我们(美国)已经被一个懂得耐心并且以理服人而不是军事占领的国家挫败，退居第二位。Sic SEMPER tyrannis。
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Roger Cotton Burlington, VT 推荐24人
We are no longer in charge of everything. China will replace us as the world superpower in the future.
April 8, 2012 at 2:34 a.m. RECOMMENDED24
我们不再掌管一切。而中国将在未来取代我们成为世界超级大国。
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al Ruibal DC 推荐23人
Let's see, we borrow trillions from the Chinese who use the interest to buy influence in our own backyard. Then they begin moving their population to those countries, where they begin to crowd out the local businesses. Florida real estate is depressed as a result of the housing debacle, so the Chinese just slide over and pick up a few billion in beachfront properties. Who needs war when you can surf on dollars from Shanghai to Del Boca Vista?
April 8, 2012 at 2:57 a.m. RECOMMENDED23
This is a good development. While the US is devolving into a conservative, fundamentalist, militarist country, China is actually running a sensible economy and doing good in the world and making money at it. We'll be their servants someday probably.
April 8, 2012 at 5:53 a.m. RECOMMENDED21
China has the money and they are putting it where it counts, including buying U.S.Treasury long term securities which as of January 2012 stood at $1.160 trillion. The Chinese investments, loans and constructions in the Carribbean, are made because China can use those islands votes at the U.N. to further their political agendas and at the same time they have the opportunity to provide some jobs to the Chinese and facilitate Chinese immigration to the area.
April 8, 2012 at 2:34 a.m. RECOMMENDED19
The USA has lost its way and has been in decline for at least 40 years now. Let us hope that the corporate oligarchy that rules America has the sense to decline with as much grace as the British Empire did. We are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and I worry that we will continue to try to use our military might to compensate for our economic decline. No wonder the Republicans are willing to cut social security and medicare for the us peons but not spending on "defense" weapons.
For those of us in the shrinking middle class, we could care less whether we are ruled by the Chinese or our current corporate masters. It doesn't really matter when you are fighting over the table scraps who is throwing you the crumbs.
April 8, 2012 at 10:59 a.m. RECOMMENDED17
Building schools is better than building bases, and aids race is better than arms race. Go at it, China and America!
April 8, 2012 at 8:51 a.m. RECOMMENDED13
That's what countries get to do when they are not financing all these wars. Wake up America. You are the doormat of the world.
April 8, 2012 at 5:53 a.m. RECOMMENDED12
这就是当一个国家不需要资助任何战争时的所作所为。觉醒吧，美国。你就是全世界的出气筒。
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Daniel Vancouver, Wa. 推荐11人
We should be taking lessons from the Chinese or maybe it is them taking a page out of our historical handbook? We have bungled badly all over in the countries south of our borders for the last hundred years, but since the forties in particular. In fact we should have been watching what the Chinese are also doing in Sub Saharan Africa as well. We tend to get all tangled up in the dictators and trying to covertly subvert local politics and shoot for short term greed, while the Chinese tend to put the money they spend to better use and have a long term goal. While we have ignored the needs of peoples all around the world, China has been building roads, bridges, schools, and helping businesses. While we have used the heavy hand, China tends to use a velvet glove.
I'm not saying they aren't very astute to the politics, just that they tend to try and win over the people as well. We opened up our markets to Chinese goods while negotiating horrible trade agreements that favored corporations and left our trade on the short end of the deal. Multi-national corporations could care less about the needs of our economy as long as they continue to make money with cheap labor in foreign countries. Meanwhile, the average Joe can't afford to be picky and stay away from buying products at Wall-Mart and others who sell nearly exclusively Chinese made goods.
April 8, 2012 at 5:53 a.m. RECOMMENDED11
The biggest threat confronting America isn't China, but an increasingly obsolete view of our own hegemony. EVERY country will act in its own strategic self-interest, why should we expect otherwise from China or any other nation? So do we, we intervene in the Middle-East when it suits us but tolerate what goes on today in Syria; have we also forgotten how we turned a blind eye to genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s?
We criticize China for building infrastructure in developing countries... does our warmongering or Europe's history of colonialism and subjugation in these regions give the West the right to moralize about China's peaceful expansion? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure China gets something in return but I can think of many things, far worse, than having a road or a tourist resort built on my island.
April 8, 2012 at 5:52 a.m. RECOMMENDED11
Gee, if we're not careful, pretty soon Caribbean countries might love China as much as U.S. businessmen.
April 8, 2012 at 5:54 a.m. RECOMMENDED10
天啊，如果我们再不小心的话，很快加勒比国家可是会热爱中国人超过美国商人啦。
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Bao California 推荐9人
What's more important? Money, or freedom? The Chinese can send them billions and it's nowhere near as impressive as the freedom we bring with our bombs. Wouldn't it be nice if some foreign power came and bombed all our problems away? What about the guy who was rude to you the other day? Would you rather have a million bucks, or have somebody bomb him and his family?
April 8, 2012 at 7:17 a.m. RECOMMENDED9
到底哪个更重要？ 金钱，还是自由？中国人可以(向加勒比投资)花费数十亿美元，但这些远不及由我们的炸弹带来的自由更加令人印象深刻。(反语，无力吐糟) 如果有某些外国势力能把我们所有问题都轰炸掉，岂不是很好？到底谁才是对你无礼的家伙？你是宁愿收到一百万美金(中国礼物)呢？还是愿意某个人用炸弹轰炸你和你的家人呢？
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SB Montreal 推荐9人。
Not much different from the USA of the 19th and 20th centuries, or other Empires. However, The USA is now carrying immense debt, and with the Republicans promoting tax increase limitations, especially on the rich, the USA is and will fall behind in "diplomacy". No one can foresee the future, but all one has to do is look at how the USA has regarded Cuba as a threat to her safety. At one time, there even was a "real" threat when Russia was sending nuclear missiles to Cuba in the early 1960's.America is not what she once was, and as the old expression goes: "those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it". Corporate America and the Republicans are so enrapt with staying in power and avoid taxes for the rich, that American foreign policy has become an antiquated oxymoron.
April 8, 2012 at 4:12 a.m. RECOMMENDED9
China doesn't have to threaten the U.S. militarily. They just have to watch us unravel and take us over economically which will happen perhaps sooner than many think.
The buffoon Nikita Kruschev 50 years ago famously proclaimed that the former USSRwould bury us. This time around we are burying ourselves.
April 8, 2012 at 5:52 a.m. RECOMMENDED8
