Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of Chinese influence in the Caribbean.

The UK recognises China as a source of aid, trade and investment for many countries including in the Caribbean. Chinese investment can support jobs and growth, but it is important that China pays due regard to environmental and social safeguards, transparency, and debt sustainability. It is precisely because we recognise China's role in the world that we expect China to live up to its international responsibilities and we will hold China to account when it does not.