Because of U.S. indifference in Latin America there is a vacuum that Beijing is happy to fill. According to The American Conservative, China is now a bigger trading partner than the U.S. for the most economically important countries in the region. As a result, while the U.S. is funding “transvestites and racial education,” China is increasing its influence.
On August 25, 2000, then-presidential candidate George W. Bush gave a speech outlining his vision for U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.
“Our future is inseparable from the future of Latin America,” Bush said. – If I become president, I will not look at the south as something of an afterthought. It will be a fundamental commitment to us.”
As The American Conservative writes, but then 9/11 happened, and Bush’s words didn’t turn into deeds. American indifference created a vacuum there, which was filled by another country, China. Today, China is a bigger trade partner than the U.S. for Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile. And these, by the way, are the most important countries in the region in economic terms.
As the author notes, Beijing is investing in infrastructure and industry throughout the region. In 2017, Chinese companies invested $21 billion in Brazil, including in power plants, the energy distribution network and ports. Brazilian governors of all political leanings regularly visit China to attract more and more investment. Chinese companies are modernizing the railroad in northwestern Argentina.
A Chinese firm has implemented one of the largest solar energy projects in northwestern Argentina in the province of Jujuy. The Chinese also operate huge mines there, mining lithium. In 2022, Chinese companies will invest $22 billion in various infrastructure and industrial projects in Argentina. The Chinese are building a subway in the Colombian capital of Bogota. Chinese loans to Latin American countries exceed $10 billion a year. Beijing also buys huge quantities of soybeans, pork and minerals there, making China Latin America’s largest trading partner.
As the author of the article notes, China has been so successful because it has very simple advertising appeals: China is here to do business, China doesn’t care about local politics, China offers deals no one else can offer. But although China claims that its ties are purely commercial, they rarely are. Beijing has been offering Venezuela predatory loans since 2010, and the country actually repays them with free oil, as well as paying with its minerals, which the Chinese mine in the south.
Eight of Taiwan’s 13 partners are in Latin America, and China is trying to isolate Taiwan through its One Belt, One Road initiative and cheap loans. Since 2017, countries such as the Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua have renounced diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and now recognize China. China already sells surveillance equipment to law enforcement agencies in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, and sends agents there to provide training in its use. In addition, China has a satellite base in Argentina of 200 hectares.
“China’s foreign policy towards the region is consistent and sustained, and has been for 20 years, and the U.S. simply reacts to what is happening by punishing its “near abroad” for not being sufficiently “progressive,” and they think that’s enough. At the same time, they allow the Chinese to invest there. Where is America’s “One Belt, One Road” for the Western Hemisphere? Where is the technological cooperation? China finances the construction of ports in the region, while the U.S. finances transvestite shows and racial education,” the author concludes.