Xi Jinping will have a busy time in South America starting this week. He will begin with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Peru, followed by the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and then finish with a state visit to the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.
Peru and Brazil are but the most significant economic inroads China has made in the region, not to mention a host of other countries across South America. All that has greatly alarmed Washington.
Sadly, there are no more believable propaganda claims the US could use against the development of such economic ties. The neo-imperialism of the age-old Monroe Doctrine has become too obvious for the world to see, though many in Washington, and quite a few incoming ideologues in the new Trump administration, still think the region is America’s playground.
Peru, the world’s No 2 copper exporter, first rolled out the red carpet for Xi on Thursday at the inauguration of a new megaport 60km north of Lima in Chancay, which is designed to handle the world’s largest container ships. It is built by the Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping and when fully operational, will shorten sea routes to Asia both for Peruvian and Brazilian goods by 10 to 20 days.
That will make it more economical than the port of Manzanillo in Mexico and the Long Beach port in California.
No wonder Washington has been warning Peru against threats to regional security with the outgoing chief of US Southern Command General Laura Richardson claiming the new port “could be used as a dual-use facility” for the Chinese navy!
It’s not known if the general is retiring to become a comedian.
The new Peruvian port also means Brazil’s soy producers may bypass US-controlled Panama Canal by transporting overland to Chancay from where produce can be directly shipped to Asia, thereby cutting journey times to Asia almost in half. Brazil is the world’s largest soy producer, accounting for 35 per cent of world production. A US$10 billion rail project is being planned by Lima.
Twenty-two Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed up to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. They are lining up to sell their primary commodities – corn, copper, soy, beef and lithium – as well as inviting Chinese investment and infrastructure projects.
By contrast, Washington is still selling them weapons, fielding special forces advisers, and cracking down on their migrants trying to enter the US and blaming them for the problem – and interfering in their domestic affairs, including elections and regime changes. And it is encircling China with military bases in Asia. No dual use there!
China’s trade with Peru first overtook the US a decade ago. It was worth US$16.3 billion more last year than that between the US and Peru. Meanwhile, Brazil and China, two founding members of Brics, are moving ever closer. Brazil has surpassed the US as China’s biggest supplier of agricultural products.
Both countries have agreed on the way to end the Russian war in Ukraine with a joint proposal that is being ignored by the West.
Countries across Latin America are seeking alternative relations and partners to develop their economies and assert their sovereign independence. America’s brutal hegemony, long exemplified by the Monroe Doctrine, is a thing of the past, even though Washington has yet to get the memo. First posed as anti-colonial policy against European empires in the 19th century, it was updated during the Cold War against the Soviets. But it was really about interventions at will by the US against ostensibly independent states in the Caribbean and South America.
That won’t do any more, even though Washington keeps trying. Now it will have to rely on brute force and bullying to try to reverse growing economic Chinese influence in its own backyard. But the region has seen how East Asia grew rich, and they won’t let the US stand in their way.
As always, China builds, America bombs.