Outside of the oil project, Chinese companies are edging Western rivals out of major projects with aggressive terms, and ushering in large groups of Chinese workers. Shipping containers turned into makeshift lodging for Chinese laborers are sprouting up at new construction sites across the country.

“The Chinese are slowly owning this country, through and through,” said cabdriver Raphael Singh, echoing a popular refrain from Guyanese citizens.

That trend has some U.S. diplomats and lawmakers concerned that China’s investments—which go back more than five decades—are translating into political clout in the resource-rich country, as it has in other parts of South America.

“We need to show up,” said Geoff Pyatt, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources. Pyatt has visited Guyana twice since taking the role and said the U.S. is closely watching China’s activity in Guyana. “[Guyana’s leaders] want the U.S. to be their partner of choice and we want to be their partner of choice.”

While China has doubled down on its investments in Guyana, the U.S. has been more selective in the projects it supports. In 2022, the Biden administration rejected a $180 million Inter-American Development Bank debt consolidation for a Guyanese port servicing the oil-and-gas industry, though the U.S. Export-Import Bank is now backing a project to use Guyana’s natural gas in the country’s power plants.

Resource rich

The attention Guyana is drawing reflects its vast petroleum resources. It is on track to surpass neighboring Venezuela’s oil production and has been courted by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to join the global cartel. An Exxon-led consortium, which includes Hess and Chinese oil company Cnooc, is expected to pump more than one million barrels a day throughout the 2030s.

Exxon has spent close to $1 billion in the local economy and on community outreach across Guyana, but China has largely surpassed its Western competitors in commercial projects, particularly in construction. Guyana’s trade with China has ballooned nearly 600% since oil began flowing five years ago. 

Near an unfinished bridge over the Demerara River that China Railway is building, a Chinese construction firm is revamping a plot of land with Asian-style pavilions and walkways for families that is slated to be redubbed the “China-Guyana Friendship Park.” Last year, a multistory mall was built just yards away from the Chinese Embassy, which features an office of telecom company Huawei, a hot pot and karaoke restaurant, a casino and a gym for foreign executives.

Economists say China appears to be making a longer-term bet on Guyana’s small economy, which has yet to see the exponential growth from oil and gas spread to other sectors. The oil sector expanded 67% in the first six months of 2024 compared with last year, according to the Finance Ministry, while traditional industries such as sugar, bauxite and gold contracted 60%, 20% and 10%, respectively.

For decades, China has invested heavily in countries with natural resources, often bringing in Chinese workers to build roads and ports to ship those commodities to China. In Argentina, China’s recent investments in lithium and agriculture are making it difficult for Javier Milei, the country’s anticommunist president, to distance his government from Beijing.

Now, Guyana is at risk of becoming economically dependent on Beijing, say former U.S. diplomats and foreign affairs analysts, though Guyanese officials reject the assertion.

Guyana President Irfaan Ali said his country isn’t economically dependent on anyone, pointing to billions in investment offered by the U.S. and other countries. He said large U.S. oil-field services companies, hotel brands and airlines have expanded in Guyana in recent years. Ali met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week, and touted the expanding bilateral partnership between the two countries.

“Today, Guyana’s relationship with our Western partners are at their strongest ever at any time in our country’s history, and we intend to build even further on this,” Ali said.

The president also said in a televised interview last year that China would play a role “in every area of advancement” in Guyana.

Deep ties

In Guyana, China has longstanding advantages over the U.S. Its diplomatic relationship with the country stretches back to 1972, with China’s first Western foreign aid project, a brick factory near Georgetown.

The South American country, with about 800,000 inhabitants, has had a sizable ethnic Chinese population since the mid-19th century, counting the diaspora in its national anthem as one of its “six peoples.” Arthur Chung, a Chinese-Guyanese land surveyor, served as Guyana’s president throughout the 1970s. Chinese restaurants, retail stores and other businesses have proliferated for decades. Chinese companies have been involved in Guyana’s agriculture sector and bauxite mining before the oil discovery.

Last year, Ali was welcomed during a state visit to Chengdu where Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to deepen the two nations’ ties with more economic support through China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a hallmark of Beijing’s global aspirations.

China has also worked to shape Guyana’s foreign policy. In 2021, the Guyanese government scrapped an agreement to open a trade office with Taiwan just hours after a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the plan and called on Georgetown to “correct its mistakes.” During his trip, Ali reiterated his support for Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China, known as the “One China” policy.

Chinese interests are diversifying into other areas including the country’s electrical systems and a stalled effort to build a hydroelectric plant. Last year, Guyana hired Chinese telecom giant Huawei—sanctioned by the U.S. over security concerns—to expand its “Safe City” surveillance technology to various regions, an effort to cut down on crime. 

Some analysts said China offers Guyana much-needed investments in projects while counterparts in the U.S. lag behind.

“We ignore this at our peril,” said Dennis Hays, a former U.S. diplomat who served as an acting ambassador to Guyana. “If we allow the Chinese to continue to basically dominate every bidding cycle that comes along, it hurts us in the long run and the short run.”