The Chinese government donated on Friday $500,000 to The Bahamas for Hurricane Dorian relief efforts.

Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie was meeting with the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Dr. Cai Dafeng at the Senate when Dr. Dafeng announced the donation.   

Previously, China gave $120,000 and the Chinese Embassy donated emergency supplies of $20,000 to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

United States Senator Marco Rubio voiced his fears recently in an American newspaperthat Hurricane Dorian will be an opportunity for China to increase its presence in The Bahamas if the U.S. Defense Department does not offer “logical assistance”.

“By targeting the Bahamian government in this period of crisis, Beijing would be making the same opportunistic play to access critical foreign infrastructure,” Rubio argued.

“In recent years, China has sought to expand its presence and influence in the Bahamas. With many airports no longer operational and ports rendered unnavigable, the post-Dorian situation is tailor-made for Chinese exploitation. Beijing’s predatory mercantilist international strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, is predicated on offering other nations assistance with infrastructure projects.

“The level of destruction that Dorian caused is unprecedented, and Americans, as regional partners and global leaders, have both moral and national security imperatives to lend our logistical resources to help the Bahamas and defend our own hemisphere from China’s encroachment.”