Kind of an aside…? Off the coast of Venezuela the islands of Trinidad and Tobago have been involved in oil and natural gas for a century. Not a huge producer (50th in the world, I believe), their reserves have been increasing for several years. While that, in and of itself, is not remarkable, I recently learned that there’s a larger Chinese “influence” there, with the capitol city, Port of Spain, having renamed a section of their downtown to Chinatown in 2019.
A young reporter there, James Lanser, did a YT piece on this and, while maintaining neutrality, he did mention that T&T has incurred some debt to China which may have prompted some Chinese influence and control. It’s interesting that China would insinuate itself in a Caribbean nation and I doubt very much that it’s for expansion of the number of Chinese restaurants and tea shops. Strategic location? Oil and natural gas? Spread of communist ideologies? Lanser mentions China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative as President Xi’s effort to spread Chinese influence across the world.
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https://www.worldometers.info/oil/trinidad-and-tobago-oil/
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Lanser’s video —
https://youtu.be/Rhl_D-sVWbI?si=VVTvQXr2Poz2D00I
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Belt-and-Road Initiative —
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative
Kind of an aside…? Off the coast of Venezuela the islands of Trinidad and Tobago have been involved in oil and natural gas for a century. Not a huge producer (50th in the world, I believe), their reserves have been increasing for several years. While that, in and of itself, is not remarkable, I recently learned that there’s a larger Chinese “influence” there, with the capitol city, Port of Spain, having renamed a section of their downtown to Chinatown in 2019.
A young reporter there, James Lanser, did a YT piece on this and, while maintaining neutrality, he did mention that T&T has incurred some debt to China which may have prompted some Chinese influence and control. It’s interesting that China would insinuate itself in a Caribbean nation and I doubt very much that it’s for expansion of the number of Chinese restaurants and tea shops. Strategic location? Oil and natural gas? Spread of communist ideologies?
.
https://www.worldometers.info/oil/trinidad-and-tobago-oil/
.
Kind of an aside…? Off the coast of Venezuela the islands of Trinidad and Tobago have been involved in oil and natural gas for a century. Not a huge producer (50th in the world, I believe), their reserves have been increasing for several years. While that, in and of itself, is not remarkable, I recently learned that there’s a larger Chinese “influence” there, with the capitol city, Port of Spain, having renamed a section of their downtown to Chinatown in 2019.
A young reporter there, James Lansing, did a YT piece on this and, while maintaining neutrality, he did mention that T&T has incurred some debt to China which may have prompted some Chinese influence and control. It’s interesting that China would insinuate itself in a Caribbean nation and I doubt very much that it’s for expansion of the number of Chinese restaurants and tea shops. Strategic location? Oil and natural gas? Spread of communist ideologies?
.
https://www.worldometers.info/oil/trinidad-and-tobago-oil/
.
Kind of an aside…? Off the coast of Venezuela the islands of Trinidad and Tobago have been involved in oil and natural gas for a century. Not a huge producer (50th in the world, I believe), their reserves have been increasing for several years. While that, in and of itself, is not remarkable, I recently learned that there’s a larger Chinese “influence” there, with the capitol city, Port of Spain, having renamed a section of their downtown to Chinatown in 2019.
A young reporter there did a YT piece on this and, while maintaining neutrality, he did mention that T&T has incurred some debt to China which may have prompted some Chinese influence and control. It’s interesting that China would insinuate itself in a Caribbean nation and I doubt very much that it’s for expansion of the number of Chinese restaurants and tea shops. Strategic location? Oil and natural gas? Spread of communist ideologies?
.
https://www.worldometers.info/oil/trinidad-and-tobago-oil/
.