Billy Long: China's worrisome expansion in Latin America

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

It’s no secret that the President of China Xi Jinping is doing everything within his power to make China a world dominating superpower. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been on the march to corner the market on vital rare earth minerals, and they are rapidly building up their military. 

While these moves are concerning to the United States, one area that has received little attention is of even greater concern and that is China’s attempts to gain outsized influence in Latin America.

 

The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 says that any intervention by foreign countries into the Americas is a potentially hostile act against the United States. 

In the nearly 200 years since the Monroe Doctrine, the United States has enforced this policy both diplomatically and militarily. 

Whether it was European superpowers, or the Soviet Union, the United States has successfully prevented these countries from gaining a foothold in Latin America. Now that the Monroe Doctrine is being tested, it is high time the United States act decisively to prevent China from continuing to gain influence so close to our shores. Their appetite for world domination knows no bounds.

A prime example of this appears in Panama. The United States took over construction of the Panama Canal in 1904, and maintained control over it until 1999, when it was handed over to the Panamanian government. 

Even after handing over control, the United States has maintained a dominant trading footprint in the canal, but that dominance is waning. Today, Chinese companies control about 40% of all imports into the canal, a far cry from the days of American influence. 

China has also been working to secure new trade deals with Latin American countries, much to the consternation of the United States. While America still has greater influence in Latin America, China is eating away at that, attempting to become the leading trade partner with Latin American countries.

One reason why Chinese influence is so concerning is their record on human rights. China is currently committing a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Province of China, while also suppressing freedom of speech in Hong Kong. 

China has an abysmal record on human rights, and this extends to their treatment of Taiwan. Taiwan is an island which the CCP claims to control as a part of China, a claim that is highly disputed. Under the Trump Administration, relations between the United States and Taiwan were expanded, with an arms deal being announced in 2019. 

Many Latin American countries also recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, but if they want to keep trading with China, that will have to change. The CCP does not tolerate any acknowledgment that Taiwan is its own country, and any nation wishing to trade with China must renounce Taiwan. 

In 2017, Panama broke all ties with Taiwan, followed swiftly by the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, both in 2018, and just a few weeks ago, Nicaragua followed suit. These moves are clearly an attempt to gain favor with the CCP, to maintain their trading partnerships. With China gaining more influence in Latin America, they are forcing countries to approve of their human rights abuses in Taiwan, something these countries should not be doing.

In order to stop this influence from growing, the United States must renew its commitment to Latin America, pursuing new trade deals which benefit both the United States and Latin American countries. 

By showing Latin America that we remain invested in their countries, we can halt the rise of Chinese influence in the region, which would greatly benefit the national security interests of the United States. 

We simply cannot allow our allies to approve of China’s human rights abuses. Instead, we should be forming a large coalition of countries to counter China and the horrendous way that they treat their citizens, or in the case of Taiwan, an independent nation.