Russia and China Dance Across Latin America

https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12405.2.0.0/europe/vatican/russia-and-china-dance-across-latin-america ^

[Thistooshallpass9]

In recent years, China and Russia have been dancing with increasing vigor to the rhythms of Latin American trade and diplomacy. The two eastern giants want business allies, resources and friends who share their desire to close the curtain on the era of United States dominance. As they foxtrot across Latin America, they are finding all three in abundance.

China's Cha Cha

China has been the main player to cha cha its way into the void America is leaving in the region. From 2000 to 2009, trade between China and Latin America increased by a staggering 1,200 percent. If current trends persist, China will surpass the European Union next year to become Latin America’s second-largest trade partner.

China’s dance into Latin America also includes an increasing amount of investment. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to invest $250 billion into the region. “China has taken over the inside lane of economic development in Latin America with an ambitious 10-year regional investment plan on the scale of the Marshall Plan,” said Latin America expert Juan de Onis,

China has also apparently broken ground on a canal through Nicaragua. The $50-billion venture is billed as the world’s largest engineering project. The waterway’s width and depth will dwarf that of the Panama Canal, several hundred miles south, allowing Nicaragua to accommodate modern freighters that are too large to pass through Panama. The overshadowing of the U.S.-built Panama Canal will significantly challenge American hegemony in Latin America. (In October, I flew over a portion of the planned Nicaraguan canal route, and you can see one of my photos here).

From Cuba to Chile, the Chinese dragon is quickstepping to Latin America’s spicy, conga-driven polyrhythms. Offering a mojito here and sharing a fine cigar there, China is winning many friends on the great Latin American dance floor.

Russia's Rumba

In the past decade, Russia has worked to reestablish the footing in Latin America that the Soviet Union held during the Cold War era. Its efforts have intensified in recent months after the U.S. and Europe slapped sanctions on Russia as punishment for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a six-day tour of Latin America, visiting Cuba, Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua, and meeting with 11 regional leaders. He signed landmark deals ranging from security and military to agriculture and investment. In recent months, Russian bombers have patrolled the Caribbean, landing in Venezuela and Nicaragua. Russia has held joint military drills with Venezuela, and Russian ships have entered Cuban and Venezuelan ports. Meanwhile, Russian gas giant Gazprom is investing heavily in Argentina and Bolivia, and Russia’s state-run Rosneft firm is increasingly dynamic in Venezuela.

As the Russian bear promenades and dips across the vast Latin American dance floor, it is establishing a position for itself of unprecedented strategic value.

The Bear and Dragon Samba in Lockstep

China and Russia do not feel threatened by one another’s drive into Latin America. Instead, the two are dancing hand-in-hand through key steps of their advance.

To support the China-funded Nicaraguan Canal project, Russia has promised military backing to ensure safety during construction. Starting this year, Nicaragua will host a Russian base, and Moscow’s fleets will patrol the country’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts. In July, Putin and Xi crossed paths in Brazil to unveil a new-world “development bank” to challenge U.S.-dominated financial institutions.

Will Europe Sit This One Out?

This all adds up to a deeply significant trend, yet the U.S. is indifferent to the Russo-Chinese advance into its backyard. But what about Europe? Will the Europeans allow their sister continent to become ever more aligned with Moscow and Beijing?

For more than five centuries, Europe and Latin America have been bound together as sister continents by both religion and language. This means European powers have enjoyed preferential economic treatment among most nations of the region. At present, the European Union remains Latin America’s second-largest trade partner (after the United States). Yet Europe’s influence in the region has slipped slightly as the ambitions of Beijing and Moscow have swelled. But be assured that Europe will not stand by passively and allow Beijing and Moscow to elbow it off the dance floor.

Around the time Putin visited Cuba, Pope Francis sent letters to the leaders of Cuba and the United States. These letters played a key role in thawing U.S.-Cuban relations, which was announced in December. The pope’s role in that deal gives the Catholic Church—whose stronghold is Europe—renewed influence over Cuba. Will that influence be to the exclusion of Russia? For a time, Cuba’s Communist regime may be in a position to play both sides against each other. But even still, the pope’s maneuver significantly reduced Putin’s sway over the island nation. Then in January, the pope appointed five new Latin American cardinals, saying the move would “manifest the indissoluble links between the church of Rome” and the nations the men came from. Also in January, Germany took a major step toward strengthening cooperation with Mexico.

At present, the lack of cohesion among European nations hinders Europe’s efforts to reign supreme in Latin America. But the deepening inroads that China and Russia are making will actually serve as a catalyst for the EU to unite. As China and Russia continue mamboing through the region, European nations will increasingly work together, under German leadership and under Vatican guidance, to bolster Europe’s own position on the great Latin American dance floor.

[skeeter]

I wonder if our president will evoke the Monroe Doctrine.

The a-hole.