To be very pleased Barbados is now a republic?

[Bebabelouba]

I'm so glad for Barbados and Barbadians.
Anyone else?
Why has this been so underreported?

@Thursdaymiami

This is all over the news I read and listen to. Maybe you’re news concentrated on illegal immigrants and the kardashians

Sassy!

Can you explain exactly why this development makes you happy OP?

I assume if you vouch for sovereignty you must also be glad about Brexit?

Which country do you think will now exert significant influence over this small island now Britain is 'gone'?

@mustlovegin

Can you explain exactly why this development makes you happy OP?

I assume if you vouch for sovereignty you must also be glad about Brexit?

Which country do you think will now exert significant influence over this small island now Britain is 'gone'?

yes this , we have seen whats happening to hong kong once britain had to hand it back , what a lot of this celebrating comes down to is a dislike of the monarchy at the end of the day

OP is presumably an expat Bajan

Because it's very much their issue.

I've seen reporting of the ceremonial handover in the British press. What I don't remember was reporting on how and when the decision was made The planned referendum never happened.

What is China going to ''get'' from Barbados though? Too small for mass Chinese tourism (they are seen in Dubai now) - so what? A naval base ?But is there deep water? Not big enough as an air base. and tourist won't want all those planes flying about everywhere?! A spy base perhaps?

When it all goes tits up with China I wonder who they will be running back too for help?

@tara66

What is China going to ''get'' from Barbados though? Too small for mass Chinese tourism (they are seen in Dubai now) - so what? A naval base ?But is there deep water? Not big enough as an air base. and tourist won't want all those planes flying about everywhere?! A spy base perhaps?

It’s on America’s doorstep.

And you could ask what China “wants” from any of these small countries that they’ve lent huge amounts of money to - power, home for money, influence and strategic locations. Barbados is in the perfect position situated between the USA and Europe.

@Fairyliz I doubt Britain, given how we badly treated that country and many others when we colonised them

I hope them all the best but I very much doubt that climbing into bed with the Chinese is in any way the path to true independence.

@tara66 Access and potentially control of a major sea trading route. China appear to have a similar strategy in Jamaica.

The US is majorly concerned, but at the same time, they have not helped those poorer Caribbean nations. Whereas through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has come along and invested heavily into the infrastructure.

I’m in New Zealand too @gofg :) and it was on the 6pm news and has been in the papers.

I'm a bit sad really. Bajans seemed so proud of their British heritage and connections to the crown, dispite the generations of pain and suffering. I was gutted when I went to Nelson's Square this summer to find an empty plinth. Wish them well but won't feel the same.

What is China going to ''get'' from Barbados though? Too small for mass Chinese tourism (they are seen in Dubai now) - so what? A naval base ?But is there deep water? Not big enough as an air base. and tourist won't want all those planes flying about everywhere?! A spy base perhaps?

The Chinese are there to achieve their strategic economic and geo political goals, nothing more. There is zero chance that any projects/loans are benevolent 'freebies', in most cases Chinese investors or the Chinese State own a fair chunk of these assets on long term leases with punitive clauses in place if debt repayments are not met. The Chinese have perfected the art of debtbook diplomacy in Africa with key commercial and strategic assets (ports, airports, military bases etc) essentially being ceded to Chinese control in return for debt forgiveness, along with continued support for China’s policy positions on Taiwan and at the United Nations. We’ve already seen this play out in Djibouti, where China used its economic entrenchment to help negotiate its first overseas naval installation. Uganda are just about to hand over control of Entebbe airport to the Chinese.

On a slightly more sinister note China has constructed or renovated nearly 200 government buildings, gifted batches of computers to African governments, and built “secure” telecommunications networks that give Beijing the opportunity for unprecedented surveillance on the continent. China’s construction projects pretty much double up as a trojan horse for spying on African governments, based on China’s long-standing pattern of using its foreign infrastructure projects for political advantage and industrial espionage.

Don't be too surprised if the Americans will be keeping a very close eye on any 'telecoms' projects being rolled out on Barbados.

I wish them all the best but like @DillonPanthersTexas am sceptical of future indépendance when they are aligning themselves to the Chinese government’s interests - especially with the onerous debt repayment conditions they impose.

@DillonPanthersTexas

What is China going to ''get'' from Barbados though? Too small for mass Chinese tourism (they are seen in Dubai now) - so what? A naval base ?But is there deep water? Not big enough as an air base. and tourist won't want all those planes flying about everywhere?! A spy base perhaps?

The Chinese are there to achieve their strategic economic and geo political goals, nothing more. There is zero chance that any projects/loans are benevolent 'freebies', in most cases Chinese investors or the Chinese State own a fair chunk of these assets on long term leases with punitive clauses in place if debt repayments are not met. The Chinese have perfected the art of debtbook diplomacy in Africa with key commercial and strategic assets (ports, airports, military bases etc) essentially being ceded to Chinese control in return for debt forgiveness, along with continued support for China’s policy positions on Taiwan and at the United Nations. We’ve already seen this play out in Djibouti, where China used its economic entrenchment to help negotiate its first overseas naval installation. Uganda are just about to hand over control of Entebbe airport to the Chinese.

On a slightly more sinister note China has constructed or renovated nearly 200 government buildings, gifted batches of computers to African governments, and built “secure” telecommunications networks that give Beijing the opportunity for unprecedented surveillance on the continent. China’s construction projects pretty much double up as a trojan horse for spying on African governments, based on China’s long-standing pattern of using its foreign infrastructure projects for political advantage and industrial espionage.

Don't be too surprised if the Americans will be keeping a very close eye on any 'telecoms' projects being rolled out on Barbados.

Absolutely this.

I've seen it reported several times. I think it's fantastic news and hope more countries follow (and think there will be loads more when the Queen dies).

It was reported at the time the decision was made and is reported now. I don’t think it’s underreported considering how anti-republican the media is. I watched the speech about it at the time and thought the now president spoke well on the issue. Though of course the type of reports are interesting and unsurprising. I’d have to look into the Chinese influence more because I’d expect the right wing press to paint this negatively. It’s quite possible for a small country to get things of benefit from China without compromising their democracy and it’s not like they have to be reliant on them. I imagine it could be insulting to those from Barbados that they’re being painted as not able to govern for themselves before they’ve had the chance.

They’ve been “governing for themselves” since the 1960s, in exactly the same way as Australia has, and India. Just because the queen is head of state, doesn’t mean she’s involved in the day to day governing of the country.

Yes!!!!

@tara66

What is China going to ''get'' from Barbados though? Too small for mass Chinese tourism (they are seen in Dubai now) - so what? A naval base ?But is there deep water? Not big enough as an air base. and tourist won't want all those planes flying about everywhere?! A spy base perhaps?

DillionPanthersTexas’s reply gets a “highly recommended”…..

Potential for major naval facilities and other strategic assets in a part of the world close to the States…darned right the US will be watching closely.

No idea about a deep water ports but as far as aviation goes it’s existing international airport already accepts aircraft such 747s and the Chinese will happily engineer other facilities as needed. I also don’t think the Chinese will care one jot about tourists and locals being disturbed by strategic developments, they haven’t elsewhere.

Was so happy to hear the news, Channel 4 had quite a bit about it on Monday night. They also talked about Drax hall in Barbados and the British MP (for South Dorset?) who is going to inherit it, which really shows how privilege still has links to the slave trade today.
Hopefully this will pave the way for more countries to do the same.

@Malvarrosa

I'm in Mexico, and it's in the news here as it's something significant that happened in a neighbouring country. This has apparently been in the works for a long time, so good for Barbados for carrying it through even during the pandemic. It's the choice of Barbadians to make, so good for them and good luck!

I would not see this as any slight to the Queen or the UK. Barbados is also the first country to become a republic and stay in the Commonwealth without having to leave and apply to rejoin, so that's a good/progressive thing that we can all appreciate.

Also kind of nice that this happened on Saint Andrew's Day; there's a cool Barbados/Scotland link for the future.

@Malvarrosa 30 November is significant, as this is the date that the Barbados Independence Act came into effect in 1966. 🇧🇧

Plenty of coverage on BBC channels/world service.

Wish we could replace the Queen with Rihanna tbh.