Guyana in the middle

Sep 07, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – A senior U.S. State Department official, Juan Pablo Segura, sharply criticised Chinese projects in Guyana and the region. The Chinese Embassy in Guyana clapped right back at Segura with its own rebuttals of malice and manipulation.

Caught in the middle is Guyana. It is the object of serious interest from both global powerhouses, with its rich prizes forming part of the spoils for whichever side gains the ascendancy. It is not the best place for an emerging country like Guyana to be. Trapped between two elephants staking out territory, fighting for dominance.

We hold no brief for the Chinese, have had our share of criticisms about some of its projects. Similarly, the U.S. has not been the best of partners for Guyana, with ExxonMobil being the most glaring example of a partner claiming trustworthiness, only for it to prove otherwise. Is there any development, any involvement, that could be more damaging to Guyana’s interests than America’s ExxonMobil 2016 Production Sharing Agreement? An oil contract that hemorrhages this country of its wealth, and for mere pittances. We would prefer to leave the Chinese and Americans to battle this out, and keep our distance. But something must be said for the record: by what moral authority, and from which moral rulebook, can the U.S. justify adopting the posture that it did? Also of interest is the fact that Asst Secretary Segura was clever enough to use a personal social media account to deliver his blast at various Chinese projects in the region. Why not through the weight of his official account?

Truth be told, the Chinese have been behind projects that left much to be desired. “Costly, poorly built, and failing” was the description given by Asst Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Segura, to a Chinese hydroelectric dam in Ecuador. Then, there was the Guyana example, and it is one that had to bite deep. The Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion project that was rightly condemned for being “plagued by more than a decade of construction delays and cost overruns.”

This paper has published over a dozen news articles and editorials over the years pointing to the failures and likely corruptions involved in that CJIA project.

For its part, the Chinese Embassy in Guyana was not taking the U.S. State Department official contentious social media blast sitting down. There is the low hanging fruit that is just begging for the plucking. The US$2B Wales Gas-to-Energy (GtE) that is fast approaching two years past its original delivery deadline of 2024 yearend. An American company, Lindsayca Guyana Inc., holds a US$759M contract to construct two plants, a gas conversion facility and a power generation engine. It is now almost two years later, and the two facilities are still some time away from becoming fully operational. In the interim, Guyanese are left hanging, and the millions in losses for Guyana keep on increasing. ExxonMobil takes advantage of Guyana, on the one hand, and Lindsayca Guyana Inc., is struggling to fulfill what it signed on for.

The way that we at this publication interpret this, is that both the Americans and Chinese have helped themselves in Guyana’s soft political environment, and toyed with its lax oversight regime. The Americans and Chinese are free to point as many fingers at each other, as that serves the grandstanding of both. Guyana is the one that gets bruised and left to cope with its disadvantages. A compromised government that is not motivated to lay down the law and hold contractors, including U.S. and Chinese ones, accountable. That is, make them pay for their failures. It is not a matter of strategic interests and spheres of influence for Guyana. It is about getting the fullest value for every dollar in the many billions spent.

The wisest course for Guyana is stay out of the current U.S-China fray. Guyana has its own challenges to overcome. Both the U.S. and China have their merits. They also have their own interests, which are not necessarily to Guyana’s benefit.

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Chinese Embassy, Chinese projects in Guyana, Editorial, Guyana in the middle, Juan Pablo Segura

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