China is steadily expanding in the Bahamas through projects that blur economic development and geopolitical objectives, experts warned.
“The People’s Republic of China has been diplomatic, economic, and even paramilitary invasions into the Caribbean, South and Central America over the past decades,” a former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump told Fox News Digital.
Brown pointed to the rise in double-use infrastructure projects along the Bahamas coastline, just 50 miles off the Florida coast.
“It doesn’t require much imagination for the People’s Republic of China to use the Bahamas commercial footprint to surveillance, misuse, and even worse. [the] We,” he said.
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Miami Beach, Florida, is just 50 miles from the Bahamas, where China is steadily expanding, experts warn. (Getty Images)
Pointing to a Chinese-controlled British colonial hotel in Nassau, the Bahamas, Brown said the location across from the US embassy could give way to the Intelligence Report Group for US officials.
“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think there’s more electronics in there that have the purpose and challenge of looking at U.S. embassy visitors as well as the US embassy itself,” he said.
The hotel is owned by Chinese company Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, and is causing geopolitical concerns given its location. Fox News Digital has contacted the British Colonial Hotel for comment.
China has invested heavily in the Bahamas through a variety of well-known projects, including a $40 million grant for the National Stadium, a $3 billion Megaport in Freeport, and $40 million for North Abaco Port and Little Abaco Bridge.
Additionally, China Exim Bank has provided over $54 million in loans to build a four-lane highway and nearly $3 billion to fund the development of Baha Mar Resort.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will speak with President Donald Trump at the Cabinet meeting held at the White House on April 10, 2025. (Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
Many of these strategic investments were the catalyst for the devastating Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which destroyed many of the archipelago countries.
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In 2019, Marco Rubio’s current secretary was Miami Herald Opedo That the devastation caused by natural disasters could begin openings for the People’s Republic of China to use aid as a Trojan horse to acquire footholds near the American coast.
“Targeting the Bahamian government during this crisis will lead Beijing to play the same opportunistic play to access critical foreign infrastructure,” Rubio wrote in 2019.
SpaceX lands a Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship off the coast of the Bahamas. (Distribution materials)
In addition to the growing influence of China’s infrastructure, Brown highlighted the Bahamas’ role in US military testing and its position in the major space launch path.
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“The US Navy has an underwater testing facility called Autech, where it works in very important and sensitive submarines and anti-submarine warfare,” he said. “[And] The Bahamas are located in the flight path of launches in many spaces. ”
A row of sunbeds and coconut palm trees in Nassau, Bahamas. (Eyeswideopen/Getty Image)
The strategic importance of the US-Bahama relationship
Brown said the greatest benefit the US has gained from its ongoing joint relationship with the Bahamas is security.
“The better the relationship we have, the safer we can be, because we can detect and address issues when they are still kind on the Bahamas side of the Strait of Florida,” he said.
“From an economic standpoint, the Bahamas’ great benefits are trade and tourism transport with the United States,” he said. “So it’s our mutual interest that we have a good relationship with the Bahamas.”
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As China grows its presence in the region, the US risks losing its influence if it doesn’t continue to be a major Bahamas ally, Brown said.
“If we weren’t our best friends in the Bahamas, then someone else would, and we don’t want anyone to become China.”
