China reaffirms Jamaica partnership as Marks denies third-country nationals proposal

China has defended its 53-year relationship with Jamaica amid renewed concern from the United States over Beijing's influence in the region, pointing to more than US$2.1 billion in investment, bilateral trade exceeding US$1.44 billion in 2025, and over 40,000 direct jobs, with more than 80 per cent held by Jamaicans. In a statement, the Chinese embassy said cooperation with Jamaica and the wider Caribbean is based on openness and mutual respect and is not directed at any third party. It cited projects including the North–South Highway, the Hugh Lawson Shearer Building, the Western Children's Hospital, and educational exchanges through the Confucius Institute at the University of the West Indies, Mona, along with financial assistance and emergency supplies after Hurricane Melissa. The response follows comments by United States ambassador-designate Carrie Lake, who told a Senate hearing that she intends to counter China's growing influence in Jamaica if confirmed, and comes months after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described some Chinese overseas activities as predatory.

Cabinet minister Audrey Marks has denied proposing a controversial arrangement under which Jamaica could receive up to 10,000 third-country nationals from the United States. Speaking publicly on the issue for the first time, she said reports had confused a proposed third-country nationals memorandum of understanding with a separate initiative she developed while serving as Jamaica's ambassador to Washington to recruit skilled foreign workers. "We are not crazy. Certainly, I am not mad. I would not go to the United States to do any proposal for taking in 10,000 criminals," she said. Marks said Jamaica was approached by the United States on 2 January to consider participating in the programme, which Washington already operates with 27 countries and is negotiating with at least 54 others. A diplomatic note from the US embassy in Kingston, however, states that Marks proposed the arrangement during discussions with a US Homeland Security official in Miami in March.

Hundreds of people dressed in yellow gathered at Cross Roads in St. Andrew on Tuesday morning as the Advocates Network for Jamaicans staged a rally calling for greater governance, transparency and constitutional reform. Speakers raised the government's undisclosed dealings with the United States under the third-country nationals programme, Integrity Commission findings involving cabinet minister Dr Andrew Wheatley, unspent Hurricane Melissa relief funds, delays in publishing the FINSAC report, the Stocks and Securities Limited fraud, slow completion of Cornwall Regional Hospital, and wider concerns about public accountability. Convenor K. Osborne said the group's immediate demand is for the third-country nationals MOU to be tabled in Parliament and for implementation to be paused until legislators have reviewed it. Opposition leader Mark Golding and several People's National Party parliamentarians attended but did not address the gathering.

The government has launched the next phase of its $45 billion Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to the Road Network programme, with taxpayers expected to spend about $25 billion to rehabilitate 37 major roads across 11 parishes over 15 months. Works minister Robert Morgan said the selected corridors carry heavy daily traffic and that accountability would be central to the programme, while Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness acknowledged public frustration over road conditions but noted that fully repairing the island's network could cost between $5 trillion and $7 trillion. China Harbour Engineering Company is serving as the main contractor.

Licensed public passenger vehicle operators across the island are now charging the full 16 per cent fare increase approved by the government, implemented in two eight per cent phases on 2 June and 1 July. Jamaica's national minimum wage has risen from $16,000 to $17,000 per week, with overtime pay moving from $600 to $637.50 per hour and double-time rates increasing from $800 to $850 per hour for work on rest days or public holidays. Business and labour representatives argue that with inflation at 5.5 per cent, the adjustment still falls short of rising living costs, with some noting that Prime Minister Holness had previously pledged a minimum wage of $18,500.

Health promotion officer for Westmoreland Gerald Miller has urged residents to protect themselves against dehydration and other heat-related illnesses during prolonged high temperatures, warning that children, older adults and outdoor workers face elevated risk. CARICOM is to convene a regional meeting to examine discrimination against Rastafarians, with a committee comprising representatives from Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.