China's Soft Penetration into the American Flank

At the end of this year, the United States will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, which enshrines the influence of the United States over the rest of the continent in its south, and prevents any invasion or colonization by external powers. Although the colonizer in question at the time came from Europe, the surprises of history made it the threat posed by China. The Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity summit, hosted by Washington last weekend, is only one step in the administration's response to China's escalating expansion in Central and South America.

Before talking about the summit and its objectives, it is important to clarify some geographical terms that seem self-evident, but create confusion when it comes to the specifics of the American continent, especially between the names of South America and Latin America. The names of North, South and Central America and the Caribbean countries all depend on the geographical location of the country from the continent, which is divided into northern and southern, and between them the central region, and the Caribbean basin. As for the name "Latin", it includes all countries of the American continent that speak languages branching from the Latin language: (French, Spanish, Portuguese), which excludes the United States, Canada, and five states in Central America, the Caribbean, Guyana, and Suriname, in South America.

Biden's Initiative

Returning to the summit of the Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity, it is an economic initiative launched by US President Joe Biden last year, as part of the expansion of US alliances to resist the Chinese influx in the southern hemisphere.

Eleven countries from the continent were involved in this initiative, and the first edition was attended by the presidents of Chile, Colombia, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Barbados, with Mexico and Panama sending only their foreign ministers. It should be noted that the president of Panama, who has a strong relationship with the US administration, was absent due to the coinciding of the timing of the summit with his country's National Day, while the president of Mexico - known for his lack of foreign visits - is considered a prominent critic of US foreign policy, despite his close cooperation with it on the file of irregular migration, in addition to his recent condemnation of the US role in the war on Gaza.

Through this summit, Washington aims to make the Western Hemisphere "the most economically competitive region in the world," as well as a "safe, prosperous and democratic American continent, from the far north of Canada to the far south of Chile," as the US president put it. This explains why the summit addresses topics outside the economy, the most important of which is the issue of climate change and the role of the American continent in leading it, and irregular migration to the United States, as one of the results of unsuccessful economic policies in Central and South American countries. According to UNHCR figures, the number of displaced people and refugees in the Americas has reached 21 million people so far this year, including 6 million Venezuelans. US President Biden has announced $485 million in investments to help refugees, migrants and potentialless communities in impoverished areas. But Colombian President Gustavo Pietro said that this aid should have been allocated to creating jobs in the countries of these irregular migrants, in order to keep them in their countries, since the economic situation is the main factor behind the phenomenon of migration in general. President Pietro had said on a previous occasion that the United States, fed up with the waves of asylum seekers, especially Venezuelans in the Democratic provinces of the United States, must lift the blockade on their country, in order for life to return to normal, and they must reside in their country of origin.

Economic aspect

As for the economic aspect of this summit, President Biden focused on opening the appetite of member countries to expand the group, and work with priority to advance all their economies, and called on them to choose democratic and transparent investments, referring to US loans and its allies from international financial institutions, instead of resorting to partners from outside the continent, and avoiding falling into the "trap of debt diplomacy," as he put it. This exposed Washington's fears of the penetration of the Chinese giant, which has become the main trading partner of South America and the second largest partner of Latin America after the United States, knowing that the volume of China's trade in goods with Latin America and the Caribbean between 2000-2022, increased 35 times, while the region's total trade with the world increased only fourfold, according to figures issued by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean islands. In addition, China has succeeded in concluding free trade agreements with Costa Rica and Chilean Peru, with different government orientations, and Ecuador, which postponed the signing of the agreement until the resumption of parliament this month.

Silk Road

It is no exaggeration to say that China – which has invested billions of dollars in Latin America's infrastructure through loans that countries must repay at high interest rates – has succeeded in annexing 21 of them under the so-called Silk Road initiative. In addition to Brazil and Argentina's recent membership in the BRICS group, Venezuela and Bolivia have promised to include them in the next phase.

Although the summit of the "Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity" - as its name indicates - is on the subject of the economy, the presidents of Chile and Colombia, Abia, each of them declared to the press, and from the White House, their dissatisfaction with the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and Chilean President Borresh called on US President Biden to intervene to stop what is happening. This is happening as Presidents Petro and Burish face major local challenges from the opposition in their countries because of their positions on Israel's war on Gaza, and it is not surprising that this position may cost them and their parties the loss of the presidency, in the coming period.