A fork in the Belt and Road

Two months before the United States elections, American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Suriname, a small country with fewer than 600,000 residents and the ambiguous fortune of recent major oil and gas discoveries. Pompeo’s stated purpose in the former Dutch colony was “to celebrate democracy.” But, once in Suriname, Pompeo spent most of his visit complaining about China.

“We’ve watched the Chinese Communist Party invest in countries, and it all seems great at the front end, and then it all comes falling down when the political cost connected to that becomes clear,” Pompeo said during a short press conference. He urged Suriname to privilege American firms for future business. “We honor contracts,” he said. “We don’t engage in crony capitalism, we don’t engage in predatory economic activity.” The Chinese embassy in Suriname reacted almost immediately with a press release, stating that “any attempt to sow discord between China and Suriname is doomed to fail,” and advising Pompeo “to respect facts and truth, to quit arrogance and prejudice, and stop slandering and spreading rumors about China.”

The dissatisfaction of the Chinese embassy with what they referred to as Pompeo’s “provocations”, found resonance in the editorials of the biggest newspapers the day after Pompeo left. On social media, friends expressed their displeasure about Pompeo's speech. The fact that it took a U.S. Secretary of State 45 years to visit Suriname, which gained independence in 1975, was disappointing to them.  Pompeo’s rant about Chinese influence has only further alienated them, as many people are grateful for the Chinese investments. In recent conversations, friends from a range of political persuasions have told me they credit China for making it possible for them to buy products from all over the world.

China is omnipresent in Suriname: According to The Guardian in 2015, Chinese nationals control around 90% of the country’s supermarkets. Chinese characters also cover the walls of hotels and casinos and can be found on numerous sawmills, streets and intersections. The national airport, national hospitals, and several government buildings were also built or renovated by Chinese companies with Chinese migrant labor and financed with loans the State of Suriname took from China. The Chinese technology firm Huawei, together with their Surinamese partner Telesur, has installed a 5G network in the country and initiated a ‘Safe City’ project in Suriname’s capital city, Paramaribo. Around 300 CCTV Huawei cameras now keep an eye on the citizens in the streets. (One human rights foundation has objected to this project on privacy grounds.) All of these investments come with a price. Suriname has a current debt of over $3 billion, and China is its largest creditor.

The growing Chinese influence in Suriname—part of China’s Belt and Road initiative—does not seem to concern many people in the country. The recent influx is in part related to the policy of the previous president of Suriname, Desiré Bouterse, an Interpol fugitive, drug trafficker and convicted murderer who was democratically elected president in 2010 and 2015. Bouterse looked to Communist countries such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Russia for financial, military, and medical help. Doctors from Cuba and other countries have filled gaps in hospital care.

In July, a new president, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, took office after his Progressive Reform Party won the election grandly. Santokhhi wants to diversify international relations away from China and improve the country’s standing among democratic governments. The United States is eager to make up for their years of absence. Pompeo has said that he would like to see more American businesses in the country. He has urged the new government to re-open a Drug Enforcement Agency office in Suriname to better tackle drug trafficking in the region. (The previous office was closed down after Bouterse’s son was arrested and charged with drug and weapons trafficking in New York in 2013.) The new president Santokhi on his part wants to work with the United States on joint military training.

President Trump took a firm stand against Bouterse but did not hesitate to re-establish ties with newly oil-rich Suriname when a new president came to power. Despite Pompeo’s unpopular anti-China rhetoric, U.S. attention remains welcome. The country is in a deep financial crisis that it cannot overcome without foreign aid. Many in Suriname are eager to see whether a new administration will continue to develop a relationship with their country. If Biden is not interested in picking up on the renewed political ties with Suriname, he might pave the way for China to further dominate the country and the region.