Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Fox Hill candidate Fred Mitchell called an American political strategist and commentator ignorant after a clip of the man suggesting that China owns The Bahamas went viral.
While a guest on Fox News Radio on Monday night, Evan Siegfried said the Chinese government controls The Bahamas as a result of the U.S. cutting back on economic investment in the country.
"The U.S., after the Great Recession, essentially pulled out all government and private investment there, and the Chinese swooped in and now own the country because they invested so heavily in infrastructure.
"They now own the Bahamian government, and there's an election there on Wednesday, which could actually swing to the opposition party, which was not supposed to happen solely because of China.
"China has also now taken up Panama and Jamaica..."
Mitchell issued a statement calling the claims "nonsense and patent rubbish". He also called a press conference to address the matter.
He said the timing of the statement was designed to influence voters before the general election.
He said, "The Fox News commentator is obviously suffering from a very serious problem of ignorance.
"First, the United States, as a government, does invest in private sector projects in countries.
"U.S. investors, private citizens and corporations, continue to be, by far, the largest foreign investors in The Bahamas.
"Secondly, the Chinese government has no hold on The Bahamas or the government of The Bahamas.
"That is nonsense and patent rubbish.
"The Bahamas itself is not involved in any way, shape or form in any geopolitical contest between larger countries.
"Any attempt to drag us into such contests is also false and malicious.
"The Free National Movement (FNM) should separate themselves from it, or be tarred with being supporters of anti-Bahamian and anti-patriotic actions."

Firing back
Siegfried took to his website hours after Mitchell's statement to blast Mitchell, along with other Cabinet ministers.
"Fred Mitchell's desperate and confusing press conference earlier was a clear demonstration that not only is The Bahamas plagued with less than scrupulous government ministers, but incompetent ones as well," he wrote.
"Mitchell's statement is false.
"I am not, nor have I ever been, an employee of Fox News, nor am I trying to influence tomorrow's (today's) election.
"I was stating established facts that he has clearly been unable to rebut.
"My own comments about The Bahamas are rooted in facts.
"Officials in the U.S. state department under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both expressed their concern about China's growing control in the Caribbean, which included The Bahamas.
"Experts and major media outlets, including the New York Times, Bloomberg, Forbes and others have also sounded the alarm about Chinese control of The Bahamas.
"Does Mitchell consider them 'fake news' too?
"Facts are facts, even if they don't have a pro-Christie bias."
Siegfried suggested Mitchell and Prime Minister Perry Christie focus on things of national importance like unemployment and crime.
"As The Nassau Guardian reported [yesterday] morning, unemployment in The Bahamas is a staggering 16.2 percent nationwide and 19.5 percent in Grand Bahama," he said.
"Yet, Fred Mitchell and Prime Minister Christie are not focused on solving that."
(Unemployment at last report was 11.6 percent not 16.2 percent; The Nassau Guardian did not report any unemployment data yesterday).
Siegfried added, "Instead, they have made me and my factual comments the most important thing for them to tackle.
"Not unemployment, crime, addressing potential corruption within the Cabinet or improving the Bahamian economy."
The back and forth did not end there.
In his final reply, Mitchell invited Siegfried to "butt out".
"I used the words 'ignorance' to describe the comments of the individual in my first statement," he said.
"It is clear from his reply that we are dealing with someone who borders on being an ignoramus.
"Instead of admitting that he was totally wrong and misguided and malicious, he instead doubles down in ignorance and irrelevancies.
"He should stay out of Bahamian politics. It is none of his business."
Mitchell said he believes Siegfried is in cahoots with the Free National Movement and Bahamians opposed to the PLP.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian