Jamaica - China Growing Adventure
The formal initiative started back in April of 2008 with Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett met with China National Tourism Administration’s Chairman Shao Qiwei to discuss tourism between the two nations.
During the trip, Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett also met with Mr. Li Jianping, Vice President of the China People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries , forging a new level of commitment to China/Jamaica tourism. This was prior to successful Olympics Jamaica had in Beijing.
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It is clear that the traditional markets of Europe and North America will be stagnant at best in the near future, and the Chinese market represent an area for replacement and growth.
The Chinese clearly are making significant presence in the Caribbean, and Latin America to add to their large presence in Africa.
His Excellency Xi Jinping arrives for a four day visit.
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During his visit, the Chinese Vice President is expected to sign a number of agreements with the Jamaican Government covering agriculture, finance, education and infrastructural development.The first down payment was the signing of a $100M line of credit.
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What would you say to a prospective tourist from China to bypass Hawaii and come to Jamaica?
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My concern is that Jamaica is just shifting from one udder to another. They are not showing the ability to stand on their own feet.
Here are a few things I hope Jamaicans will learn from the Chinese - discipline, hard workers, productive use of human resource.
Growing up in the ’50s I noticed that while most black children were busy doing nothing productive the Chinese children remained close to home, doing their homework or working in the family store. I realize that, in a sense, black children were more disadvantaged than the Chinese but that is another matter. The Chinese most often lived behind or above their shops,with the smell of Mackerel and Salt Fish, ever present, for decades till their children graduated from, usually, the best of schools. That having been accomplished they moved up to the hills.
It became obvious that many black people did not notice what went into bringing about the Chinese success because as soon as the misguided politicians of the ’70s blurted out that the rich people living on the hills got there on the sweat off the black laborer’s back, few hesitated to go try to capture what they chose to believe had been taken from them.
These NEW Chinese, vs what we used to refer to as Jamaican Chinese, are likely to be just as successful as the Jamaican Chinese were ‘because whereas the Chinese went from owning Grocery Store to owning Supermarkets Jamaica is still stuck with the Coronation Market mentality.
Lindsay