The Chinese Canal
Panama is the one of the world’s hippest hot spots this year, Vogue recently exclaimed.
The Chinese government agrees.
The isthmus country is the exemplar of Chinese investment and influence in Latin America.
China operates ports at the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the Panama Canal, plans to build a cruise ship terminal on a former US Air Force base and almost built its embassy in a choice spot for monitoring military vessels in the canal before American officials objected, the St. Louis Post Dispatch wrote in a searing editorial.
Latin America is now the second-largest recipient of Chinese direct foreign investment, the Diplomat reported.
Some of those investments make perfect sense. Ozy wrote that Chile is the world’s biggest copper producer. China is the largest buyer. It makes sense the two countries would be close.
Other deals seem only to benefit China.
In Ecuador, China agreed to build a $19 billion dam and other infrastructure in exchange for 80 percent of the nation’s oil rather than cash payments. But the dam is faulty. Its construction led to scandals that have resulted in bribery charges and convictions of top Ecuadorian officials. The oil goes to Beijing all the same, however, robbing the poor South American country of its greatest source of foreign currency.
“The strategy of China is clear,” Energy Minister Carlos Pérez toldthe New York Times. “They take economic control of countries.”
That investment has political impacts, too.
Numerous Latin American countries have chosen to rescindrecognition of Taiwan, which Chinese leaders view as a breakaway province.
China and to a lesser extent Russia have extended billions in loans to Venezuela, an economic basket case. The US is pushing for opposition leader Juan Guaido to replace the corrupt and embattled President Nicolas Maduro. But CNBC reported that leaders in Beijing are backing Maduro.
In a Voice of America broadcast, Americas Society/Council of the Americas Vice President Eric Farnsworth said China was a “wild card” in the future of Venezuela. If Guaido can convince the Chinese he will pay back their debts, argued Farnsworth, they might leave Maduro high and dry.
That’s great for Guaido and potentially great for the people of Venezuela, but it’s not so great for Venezuelan sovereignty.
Chinese crime syndicates have also made inroads into Latin America, reported Diálogo, a news website run by the US military.
Foreign Policy suggested that the US counter Chinese investments with humanitarian aid, or “soft power.”
But it’s hard to believe the Latin Americans will take notice of anything but hard cash.
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