China’s regime gains more control of critical infrastructure in Latin America

The Chief of the Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, has sounded the alarm about the threat posed by China’s advance in Latin America. The communist regime has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects for economic purposes and potential military operations.

China is seeking to conquer America’s backyard. It offers poisoned candies — big projects in exchange for debt traps, unequal trade, and military cooperation. And most alarmingly, China is going beyond working with traditional allies such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

A report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean states that in the 2000-2022 period, goods trade between the region and China expanded 35 times over, while the region’s total trade with the world increased only fourfold. Bilateral trade, which scarcely exceeded $14 billion dollars in 2000, totaled nearly $500 billion dollars in 2022.

Telecommunications plays a key role. Huawei, banned in the U.S in 2022, is the fastest growing telecommunications company in Latin America, reaching $4.89 billion dollars in 2023. For more than two decades, U.S. government officials have raised national and economic security concerns about Huawei, citing its ties to the Chinese government and military.

In Brazil, China’s state grid company won the largest power grid auction in December. The Chinese firm will invest $4.4 billion and build 1,468 kilometers of lines in 72 months.

Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has also been responsible for opening the doors to the Chinese dictatorship. During his visit to China, Lula spoke about ending the hegemony of the dollar and strengthening commercial transactions in other currencies.

Peru announced that it will roll out the red carpet for Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, as a guest of honor at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and at the inauguration of the Chancay port in November of this year. The shadow of the Chinese army is not far from this $3.5 billion project, which secures for China a dangerous gateway to South America. The Asian firm Cosco Shipping has a majority stake in the project. It is a key player in the export of soybeans, lithium and copper.

The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, has maintained a different attitude toward China. He has said no to Chinese military equipment. In an unprecedented move, he has chosen to purchase American F-16 aircraft, a slap on the face to the red empire. Milei has also attacked China’s global economic strategy. Argentina said no to the invitation to join the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

China does not give anything for free. It is not only demanding the severing of relations with Taiwan, but also praise and defense of its twisted model of human rights at the UN, or at least their silence in the face of it.

The communist dragon does not hide its multipurpose projects. China promotes poor quality products and dubious reputations, low-paid jobs and human rights violations.

The Asian giant controls not only the lithium and copper industries in Latin America, but it has also become the main supplier of their telecom technology — all critical sectors in terms of trade, defense and security.

Without a doubt, the only guarantee to stop China’s accelerated advance in Latin America continues to be democracy and the counterweight of greater leadership from Europe and the U.S.

The countries that surrender to China today should see themselves in the mirror of African and Asian countries, where Chinese blackmail, violations of sovereignty, human rights abuses and environmental damage have all emerged from the fine print of agreements with China.

The Chief of the U.S. Southern Command said that it is time to go out into the field, to compete for the contracts in these countries while they are still considering deals with China. “We have to accelerate the processes to make economic security national security,” she said. This seems like the best way to contain the Chinese threat, but it needs to start now. Tomorrow could be too late.

Arturo McFields is an exiled Nicaraguan journalist, a former ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps.