Murphy Sets Sights On China’s Influence Campaign in Latin America, Caribbean

April 13, 2021 by TWN Staff
Murphy Sets Sights On China’s Influence Campaign in Latin America, Caribbean

WASHINGTON – Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is pressing for a comprehensive assessment of China’s efforts to expand its presence and influence in Latin America and the Caribbean and how these efforts could undermine American interests.

Under the auspices of a new bill Murphy has authored, the State Department, Defense Department, National Security Council and other members of the intelligence community would prepare a “holisitic assessment” of the situation and brief Congress on “America’s strategy to counter China’s more malign activities in this vital region.”

“China’s self-serving efforts to project power in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico — a region of great importance to the United States — have the potential to threaten our national security, our economic prosperity, and our democratic values,” Murphy said in a written statement.

“As America and China compete across nearly every functional and geographic domain, it is critical for U.S. policymakers to understand what China is doing in the region and to have an effective strategy in place to counter China’s aggressive conduct and to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its actions,” she said.

Policymakers have expressed growing concern about China’s diplomatic, military, intelligence, and economic actions in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In recent testimony to Congress, Admiral Craig Faller, the commander of Florida-based U.S. Southern Command, said China is engaged in a “full-court press” in the region and that U.S. influence is “eroding.”

The assessment required by Murphy’s bill, the Assessing China’s Presence and Influence in Latin America and the Caribbean Act, would have both an unclassified and a classified section.

It would examine, among other things:

  • countries in the region with which China maintains the closest relationships and in which it is making significant investments or loans, funding infrastructure projects, or providing foreign assistance;
  • China’s relationship with the governments of Venezuela and Cuba;
  • China efforts to exploit the region’s natural resources, including oil, natural gas, and rare earth metals;
  • Chinese military assets and activities, its sale or transfer of defense equipment, and its role in transnational crime and drug trafficking in the region;
  • whether Chinese investments in the region could have military applications, enable China to intercept U.S. communication, or otherwise threaten U.S. national security;
  • China’s COVID-19 “vaccine diplomacy” in the region and the conditions it attaches to such assistance;
  • the degree to which China has used its influence to build leverage over countries in the region and to coerce those countries into supporting China’s foreign policy goals;
  • the specific actions taken by China in the region that present the greatest threat to United States’ interests.

For a one-page summary of the bill, click here. For the text of the bill, click here.

A+
a-
  • Caribbean
  • China
  • Defense Department
  • Latin america
  • National Security Council
  • State Department
  • Stephanie Murphy
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Geopolitics

    Poland's President Calls on NATO Allies to Raise Spending on Defense to 3% of GDP

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's president on Monday called on other members of the NATO alliance to raise their spending... Read More

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's president on Monday called on other members of the NATO alliance to raise their spending on defense to 3% of their gross domestic product as Russia puts its economy on a war footing and pushes forward with its invasion of Ukraine.... Read More

    US Adults Fracture Along Party Lines in Support for Ukraine Military Funding, AP-NORC Poll Finds

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party lines in their support for sending military aid to Kyiv, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Democrats are more likely... Read More

    At Paris Gathering, Western Leaders to Show Unity for Ukraine and Signal 'Russia Cannot Win'

    PARIS (AP) — More than 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials are gathering in a... Read More

    PARIS (AP) — More than 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials are gathering in a show of unity for Ukraine, signaling to Russia that their support for Kyiv isn't wavering as the full-scale invasion grinds into a third year. French President Emmanuel Macron,... Read More

    Harris Repudiates Trump Worldview and Says the US Won't Back Down on Ukraine's Defense

    MUNICH (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday warned of the dangers of growing authoritarianism and isolationism in a... Read More

    MUNICH (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday warned of the dangers of growing authoritarianism and isolationism in a not-so-veiled repudiation of Donald Trump’s worldview and threats to renege on security guarantees for NATO allies should he return to the White House. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris offered... Read More

    Biden Warns Opposing Ukraine Funding Plays 'Into Putin's Hands,' but Faces Resistance in House

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for House Republicans to urgently bring a $95.3 billion aid package... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for House Republicans to urgently bring a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to a vote, warning that refusal to take up the bill, passed by the Senate in the morning, would be "playing... Read More

    Biden Tells Congress to 'Show Some Spine' Against Trump as Border Security and Ukraine Aid Collapse

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to “show some spine” and stand up to Donald Trump... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to “show some spine” and stand up to Donald Trump even as a Senate deal on border enforcement measures and Ukraine aid was rapidly collapsing. The Democratic president has engaged for months with Senate leaders to... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top