China signals it won't give an inch to the U.S. in Latin America

Beijing doubles down on its ambitions for the region just as Trump tries to assert dominance

- James T. Areddy

China intends to keep playing in the U.S. backyard, Latin America.

The Trump administration took veiled swipes at China in its national-security strategy with the vow to “restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” and “deny non-Hemispheric competitors.”

Less than a week after the release of the U.S. strategy in December, Beijing issued a little-noticed policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean that geopolitical analysts say foreshadows more U.S.-China jostling for regional influence.

"China has always stood in solidarity through thick and thin with the Global South, including Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the 6,700-word policy paper, China’s first on the region in almost a decade. The paper cites how a “significant shift is taking place in the international balance of power,” terminology Chinese leader Xi Jinping uses to allege that the era of U.S. global supremacy is ending.

China shadows each major challenge President Trump has taken on in Latin America, from degrading the Venezuelan regime to reasserting American dominance at the Panama Canal. It is a counterpoint—albeit a moderate one—to what Beijing considers encirclement of its territory by the U.S. system of military alliances throughout Asia.

"Great power competition in the region has only just begun,” according to an analysis of China’s Latin American stance by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Washington-based think tank said Beijing's policy plan demonstrated its intention to expand diplomatic and economic ties in Latin America, and position itself as an alternative to the U.S. China is gaining political leverage in the region by spending money on infrastructure projects and extracting critical minerals, energy and other natural resources. This is done while its diplomats engage local political power brokers via its embassies.