China in the Americas

   The Monroe Doctrine,  the American policy that has kept foreign powers from pursuing military gains in our Western Hemisphere for two centuries, is apparently no longer in vogue in Washington.

   Pursuing three main goals, the Beijing government has dived deeply into Latin America and the Caribbean.  Economically, China seeks access to raw materials throughout the region.  Diplomatically, it seeks to persuade nations to cut ties with Taiwan.  And finally, and perhaps most worrisome, it seeks to gain dependable military outposts right on America’s borders. 

   China has become a major factor in Latin American affairs. After President Hu Jintao’s first visit to Latin America in 2004, it took just three years for bilateral trade to reach over $100 billion, notes policy expert Russell Hsiao. 121 bilateral agreements and cooperation initiatives have been signed since 2000, concentrating in trade, cultural, public administration/consular affairs, science and technology, tourism, and military matters.

   Along with billions in cash, thousands of Chinese workers have poured into the region, training troops, manning strategic facilities, and deeply interacting with inter-American organizations.   Beijing joined the Organization of American States as a permanent observer. It also joined the Inter-American Development Bank  with a donation of $350 million.  It expanded diplomatic ties with the Group of Rio, the Andean Community, and the Caribbean Community groups.  

   China clearly seeks to replace American influence in the region. Its government recently sent a very celebratory congratulatory message to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera last December on the founding of the “Community of Latin American and Caribbean States” (CELAC), a grouping that includes every nation in the western hemisphere except the United States and Canada.

   China’s recently released official policy statement on Latin America clearly adopts a policy of ever-deepening military relations with our neighbors to the south.

    Any rational analysis of China’s investments leads to the conclusion that military, as well as economic, goals are the top priority.  As Dr. Evan Ellis notes in Chinese Engagement with Nations of the Caribbean, Beijing has developed port facilities on both the east and west sides of the Panama Canal, and a massive deepwater port and airport facility in Freeport, The Bahamas, just 65 miles from the USA, as well as a deep sea port in Suriname.

  To enhance its military’s familiarization with the region, China has sent a naval hospital ship to Cuba and peacekeeping forces to Haiti. Ellis notes that “The PRC also conducts significant interactions with the militaries of virtually all of the Caribbean nations with which it has diplomatic relations.  A series of senior level Caribbean military leaders have visited China in the past two years…At a lower level, people-to-people military interactions have included inviting uniformed Caribbean military personnel and defense civilians for professional education trips to the PRC…The PLA donated $3.5 million in non-lethal military equipment to the Jamaica defense Force in 2010….The PLA is also reported to have personnel at Soviet-era intelligence collection facilities in Bejucal, Lourdes, and Santiago de Cuba…” 

   The U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission reports that Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia and Cuba now maintain strong ties to the Chinese military “through a high number of official visits, military officer exchanges, port calls, and limited arms sales.”  Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador have begun to buy Chinese arms and military equipment, including radar and aircraft.  Bolivia has signed a military cooperation agreement with China. 

   A Jamestown Foundation study of China’s arms sale to the region notes highlights China’s goal of allowing Latin American and Caribbean nations to distance themselves from Washington,  The report notes indicates that “Beijing’s military to military ties are growing with the states of South America across the board:  military missions, educational exchanges and arms sales.  This activity is part of Beijing’s overall advancement of a foreign policy.”

  For centuries, presidents, whether Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, have reacted forcefully and quickly to foreign military inroads to this region.  President Kennedy’s forceful response in the Cuban Missile Crisis and President Reagan’s moves to oust the Soviets from Central America are the most recent examples.  The White House needs to inform Americans why it has abandoned this successful policy.