Chinese-chartered merchant ship Cosco Shipping Panama crosses the new Agua Clara Locks during the inauguration of the expansion of the Panama Canal in this undated file photo. China is continuing its push to displace U.S. influence in the region and already has put parts of the Panama Canal under its control. (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)
A new year is supposed to bring meaningful change. More often than not, it does.
However, it’s important to note that change isn’t always a good thing, and new developments aren’t always exciting. In fact, sometimes they’re downright terrifying.
Case in point: “The Chinese Communist Party and government are actively looking to strengthen their ties throughout the Western Hemisphere, in particular with anti-American elements,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Beijing is seeking to surpass the United States in every sector, and we must take this threat seriously.”
Rubio isn’t an alarmist. In many ways, he’s underscoring the threat from Beijing.
From artificial intelligence to vaccine technology to quantum computing to the global food supply, the CCP is determined to control everything that matters. This includes controlling countries around the world.
Right now, Beijing is engaging in a form of neocolonialism, undermining state sovereignty with big promises and even bigger threats. For those who question the idea of colonialism with Chinese characteristics, let me point you in the direction of Latin America.
As the aforementioned Washington Examiner piece states that the CCP recently unveiled an “action plan for cooperation” with Latin American countries. What does this “action plan” look like? In short, it’s a “comprehensive” initiative designed to control the region and “threaten U.S. interests.”
In the words of U.S. Army War College research professor Evan Ellis: “The Chinese don’t say, ‘We want to take over Latin America,’ but they clearly set out a multidimensional engagement strategy, which, if successful, would significantly expand their leverage and produce enormous intelligence concerns for the United States.”
Gerardo Aziakou Dock workers walk at the port of Santos, 37 miles from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 1, 2013. Santos port, the largest in Latin America, is responsible for 25 percent of Brazil's foreign trade. (Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images)
To be clear, if China does conquer Latin America, then the United States (and the world in general) is in trouble. After all, Latin America consists of one North American country, Mexico, as well as Central America, the entire continent of South America, and any Caribbean island with inhabitants who happen to speak a Romance language (a group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin).
From a Chinese perspective, Beijing’s plan to colonize the region is playing out nicely. Across Latin America, from Panama to Puerto Rico to Bolivia to Brazil, the presence of the CCP can be felt.
Interestingly, in Panama, 6 percent of the total population is Chinese, and as many as 35 percent of Panamanians could have Chinese ancestry. But the demographic makeup of Panama is a discussion for another day.
Conquering Latin America involves conquering roughly 16 percent of the countries on the planet. As I have noted previously, China has already conquered Africa, home to more than 25 percent of the world’s countries.
Today, the shadow of communism appears to be spreading—and spreading rapidly. Sadly, in Latin America, the CCP’s shadow has been spreading for more than a decade.
Alienating America
In 2010, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was established in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. According to Telesur, a Latin American TV network headquartered in the city, the 33 CELAC members came together “to promote solidarity, cooperation, complementarity, and political agreement.”
Since then, this geopolitical community has become a “benchmark for unity in defense of common objectives such as the search for justice, social welfare, and happiness for the Latin American peoples.” CELAC was created in an effort “to offer Latin America a permanent mechanism to avoid the U.S. tutelage and meddling,” we’re told.
In the pursuit of “justice” and “happiness,” it seems odd that the vast majority of CELAC members have opted to embrace communist China, a country known for inflicting untold levels of misery on its own citizens, as well as citizens of other countries.
Of all the countries in Latin America embracing China, Colombia appears to be the most eager. As Foreign Policy recently reported, Colombia is now backed “by Beijing with state financial support.” In recent times, a number of Chinese companies have won “major infrastructure projects, including the long-awaited Bogotá metro, the Bogotá regional railway, many Colombian 4G and 5G infrastructure projects, and a major new gold mine in Antioquia.”
Ever since Colombian President Iván Duque visited Beijing in 2019, the writing has been on the wall. Sadly, it appears to be only a matter of time before Colombia joins the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). If it does, it will join a whole host of countries now quite literally indebted to Beijing.
Why would Colombia make a deal with the devil? Why would its leaders enter a Faustian bargain?
Because the Colombian government, like the Colombian people, is growing increasingly desperate. The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled the country. As the Foreign Policy piece states, Colombia no longer has “the luxury of being choosy about its partners.” With severe “budget deficits and a rising national debt,” the country is submerged in a sea of crises.
The Foreign Policy piece warns that the Colombian government “is becoming more dependent on Chinese financing and contractors as a source of local job creation.”
Sadly, Colombia’s dependence appears to be reflected across Latin America. Desperation makes people do desperate things.
The CCP, an apex political predator, is only too willing to capitalize on Latin America’s vulnerabilities. The world as we know it is being reshaped, and the CCP appears to be pulling many of the strings.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. He covers psychology and social relations, and has a keen interest in social dysfunction and media manipulation. His work has been published by the New York Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, National Review, and The Spectator US, among others.
