Communist China in Latin America

Some 30 years ago, I made my first foray to Central America, visiting Belize. Odd was the unlikely presence of Chinese nationals. Today, China’s presence is pervasive across Latin America. With that presence comes communist political pressure, corruption, and dishonesty. We must understand China’s strategy – and illegitimacy.

To those who question whether free societies can fall to faulty ideas, whether China could really be making inroads – literally and ideologically against freedom, pause. China is moving into this hemisphere – with intent, intensity, and measurable success.

In addition to China challenging American values in our own educational system, infiltrating schools, research institutions, and private sector, China is coopting allies. Examples are everywhere.

According to credible defense analysts, over the past 20 years, China’s trade with Latin America “has expanded 18-fold to $314 billion,” as Chinese companies (all linked to the communist regime) “have become important partners and suppliers for firms operating … the region’s oilfields, mines, ports, telecommunications and electricity grids.” See, e.g., Why China’s Advance in Latin America Matters.

That fact alone is telling, as it shows the Chinese concentration of effort and success in creating regional vulnerability and reliance on Chinese control of energy, maritime, telecommunications, and electricity infrastructure. Think:

In times of future conflict or diplomatic tension, how important might Chinese pressure on energy, maritime, communications, and power grids of American allies be? In a word, very.

Nor is China’s growing influence in Central and South America limited to these sectors or to loans, gifts, and shadowy deals with Latin American governments.

China’s “military police” have been part of “UN peacekeeping” in Haiti for almost a decade. The recent assassination of Haiti’s president is seen by some as an opening for China, chance to get Haiti to drop diplomatic ties with Taiwan, stir instability.

Last month, two members of Congress, Scott Perry (R-PA) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI), raised the alarm. In a letter to Biden, they wrote: “We are concerned about the potential ripple effects this assassination may have on stability, both within Haiti and across the wider region – as well as the doors it may open to political interference by the People’s Republic of China.” See U.S. lawmakers warn of Chinese meddling in Taiwan-Haiti ties.

Nor is their concern misplaced. China has been “targeting Haiti” in a “bid to isolate Taiwan” for years. Globally, China offers “interest free loans” if countries will abandon free Taiwan. See, Beijing targets Haiti as bid to isolate Taiwan from its diplomatic allies heads to the Caribbean.

But China’s influence is wider, creeping faster. China has put warships in Latin American ports, recently managed to woo US allies Brazil and Colombia into joint security exercises, while “hosting the region’s military and police officers in China.” Economic ties move to security.

As the United States scrolled back security assistance to Colombia and seven Andean countries – known as Plan Colombia, or the Andean Region Initiative (ARI) – China was quick to pick up slack. They pushed military and police aid through “defense” companies run by the government.

Last month’s loss of Peru to a Marxist president in a hotly contested election only adds concern to those tracking regional developments. Aside from election integrity, China has become a discrete contributor of inordinate security assistance to Peru, another longtime US ally. Too often, we underestimate China’s intent to peel off US allies, under they are lost.

To be clear: China’s approach to international trade and diplomacy – as President Trump identified – is patently dishonest. They would as soon coopt, corrupt, buy, or strongarm smaller nations and international organizations, as they have the World Trade Organization, United Nations Human Rights Council, recently the World Health Organization, as operate honestly.

The Wall Street Journal calls it “taking over international organizations.” Countless reports indicate a pattern and practice by China of buying and pushing communist political influence. See, e.g., How China Is Taking Over International Organizations, One Vote at a Time; China’s intimidation and endless pursuit of ideological compliance; Special Report: China uses intimidation tactics at U.N. to silence critics; China using proxies to intimidate people across world, says Canadian minister.

The result has been a bizarre attempt by China to legitimize communist inhumanity. When a UN Human Rights Council can be coopted to ignore China’s brutal repression of basic humanity in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, across nation and region, something is deeply wrong.

In short, where the United States aggressively called out Soviet illegitimacy and must call out Communist Chinese illegitimacy. China is now leaning forward in Latin America, part of that nation’s push for global communist dominance, masquerading as economic tradecraft.

Unless the United States refocuses on allies, we can expect China to gain control over Latin American trade nodes, ports, critical infrastructure, major economic sectors, election processes, and – unfortunately – electoral outcomes, permitting military and political power projection.

One analyst recently assessed: Through economic engagement, China “employs political relationships and revisions to the institutional order … while building military capabilities with global reach to protect the nation against those that it anticipates will resist its efforts.” In that way, China is more dangerous than the Soviets were.

Bluntly, the threat is at our doorstep. “Never before in modern human history has a state so powerful, so fundamentally put at risk the global institutional order, security, freedoms, and prosperity of the rest, employing an approach that was so superficially benign …disarming its targets from within by playing to their short-term material interests.”

That is the nub. Even as we confuse allies in the Far East, China is advancing chess pieces in this hemisphere, using economic power we gave away to push communist political ends – efforts to take down, transform, coerce, and control governments.

What must be done is simple but takes courage – from the US and global allies. Chinese Communism must be called out as Ronald Reagan delegitimized Soviet Communism as inherently deceptive, dishonest, corrupt, brutal, and in direct opposition to individual freedom and equal opportunity, against American values.

As brave Chinese citizens rose in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Tiananmen Square – facing communist tanks and machine guns – Communism is surely illegitimate. It is an enemy of free people everywhere, including this hemisphere. We must say so.