News Analysis A growing China-Cuba axis threatens to transform the geopolitics of the Caribbean basin and heralds the return of great power rivalry to a region that has historically been a critical component of America’s continental defense. How serious a challenge is Beijing’s Caribbean gambit to U.S. national security? The significance of the China-Cuba axis was underscored nearly two weeks ago when Havana signed on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In doing so, it joined the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica as Caribbean participants in China’s infrastructure development program. Cuba, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica have received commitments of over $7 billion in Chinese aid and loans for various development projects, according to a 2020 report. The BRI is a Chinese government sponsored program, also known as “One Belt, One Road,” under which …