China Set to Dominate Latin America Within 5 Years: Security Expert
China is expanding its influence in South America to counter the U.S. dominance in the Western hemisphere, according to security expert Joseph J. Humire.
“They’ve been building it gradually, systematically, over many, many years—over decades,” Humire recently told EpochTV’s “China Insider” program.
Trade and investment in the region have been integral to Beijing’s efforts in this regard. But this trade comes with conditions, he said.
“Those conditions are often the loss of your sovereignty, the loss in some cases of your territory … and in some cases, China is able to hoodwink you into bringing them into their geopolitical orbit,” Humire, executive director of national security think tank Center for a Secure Free Society, said.
China and Argentina recently deepened their relationship by signing a deal at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 6, which added the country to Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative”—a massive infrastructure investment project aimed at expanding Beijing’s worldwide economic and political influence. With this agreement, Argentina will take $23.7 billion in loans for Chinese infrastructure development.
Engagements of this kind are allowing the regime to advance its military ambition, according to Humire.
To illustrate this point, he pointed to the Chinese military-controlled satellite tracking station set up in the province of Neuquén, north-west Patagonia, Argentina in 2014. China has claimed that the space station is for peaceful space observation and exploration. Yet, technical analysts have charged that the facility was geared for electronic warfare, according to Humire.
“That means, in a short time, they’ll take U.S. satellites, and throw them out of orbit in Latin America … in which the United States is supposed to have the most influence,” Humire said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 26.
The Chinese regime seeks to use Latin America as leverage against the United States, the expert said.
“The Chinese are making sure that Latin America becomes an area that’s inhospitable for the United States to trade, to travel, to do business,” said Humire.
“That’s part of the strategic calculation to be able to limit the U.S ’s ability to stop China’s ambitions in their near abroad,” he added.
The regime’s growing sway in the region is reflected in South American countries’ changing relationship with self-ruled Taiwan, an island that Beijing views as its own.
“Taiwan … had strong recognition in Latin America over decades. China has been eroding that recognition over time,” he said.
Consequently, some countries such as El Salvador and the Dominican Republic had flipped their recognition of Taiwan to China.
Meanwhile, Guatemala and Paraguay still remain as strong allies of Taiwan, but they are getting pressure from China on all fronts to drop that recognition, according to Humire.
The expert believed that if China eventually gets those two countries to change their stance, then Beijing will make its move to invade Taiwan because the island would be more isolated internationally and lacking support.
He warned that within five years, China would take over Latin America, and urged the United States “to hurry up and stop them”.
“As long as China is in Latin America, they’re always gonna be able to do more aggressive actions in the Indo Pacific,” said Humire.
“And that part is a serious threat to not just the United States, but to the Western world,” he added.
