The Chinese government urged the United States on Thursday to cease “coercion” toward Latin American countries and respect their right to decide their foreign relations , following press reports of pressure from Washington for nations in the region to reduce their ties with Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the U.S. stance “once again demonstrates that policies of pressure and coercion are not supported and are becoming increasingly less viable.”
“ China and Latin America are good friends and equal partners , characterized by openness, inclusiveness, and mutually beneficial cooperation. Our cooperation responds to the will of the people and the common interests of both sides ,” the Chinese diplomat said.
Lin Jian added that Latin America and the Caribbean are not anyone’s ‘backyard’ , and have the right to choose their development path and cooperation partners.
The Asian country’s foreign ministry official called on the U.S. to cease coercing Latin American countries, stop interfering in their internal affairs , and contribute to their development, rather than sowing discord and issuing orders.
US media outlets such as The Economist and The New York Times recently reported that Washington will increase diplomatic, commercial, and military pressure on several Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2025 to contain what it calls China’s “exploitative practices” in the region.
According to these media outlets, US pressure has had a limited effect and, in some cases, has strengthened the rapprochement of Latin American governments with Beijing.
I appreciate China trying to play nice, but when you ask nicely of the biggest, shittiest, most belligerent and entitled bullies on earth to “please play nice” it’s gonna look at you, laugh it’s ass off, and then double down. Unless China plans to actually pursue some tangible repercussions, which the US knows it never will, then this kind of speak is pointless.
I’m not saying China should or should not, or even can, take action. Just saying, this kind of rhetoric does nothing.
Fortunately, China is doing way more than rhetoric for Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. This could be seen as industrialization(ex medical and energy investments for Cuba) and military equipment(ex Venezuela). The prosperity for these three countries is urgently needed to destroy the building blocks of anticommunist propaganda in the region. Achieving this will be the biggest blow to the US.
Apart from those countries, they shouldn’t do more than being rhetorical for the others. Otherwise, they will risk stoking the pro US forces and bootlickers to increase their anti china rhetoric and policies. As an example, check Milei’s Argentina. That guy, even with all his bootlicking contest with el Salvadorian and Ecuadorian president, couldn’t break relations with China and risk losing the credit swap that China offers. If China was more aggressive, argentinian comrades could see even more hellish conditions where Argentina completely sides itself economically into the US camp.
Keeping their rhetoric and their economic relationships is the best that they can do taking into account the material conditions of the region. The actual resistance against the US has to come from within each country in Latam. Without those grassroot organizations leading the resistance, not even China will be able to help.
I take it more as a veiled threat of a newly confident player: you are not the only big kid in this backyard, you should think twice before moving around. This is China claiming part of the influence the US has hitherto exerted alone in Latin America.
except this player values their own long game at the expense at the rest of the world
Well, they all do. It’s just a game of music chairs that gets people killed…
Fingers crossed for escalating rhetoric in the near future
