By Ken Dilanian, Joel Seidman and Gabriel Sanchez - NBC News
WASHINGTON - Two years ago, the United States government began to publicly question
China's strategy to buy an island off the coast of El Salvador
, where a company from that country was proposing to build a deep-water port and a manufacturing manufacturing.
American objections caused the Salvadoran government to stop the project.
But the Chinese were not discouraged.
After US officials claimed that China's efforts to bribe Salvadoran politicians were successful, the project is now moving forward.
NBC News had access to a presentation by a Chinese state-owned company called Shared Opportunities, Shared Future, which outlines a version of the proposal.
US military and intelligence officials say
the port project would give China a significant economic and strategic foothold
in what has traditionally been a US zone of influence.
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It is one of many examples showing that the Chinese government is making its power and influence felt in Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that US officials say is harmful to the country's interests and through methods that the United States cannot. use.
“
The Chinese influence is global.
It is everywhere in the hemisphere, and it is progressing alarmingly, "said Admiral Craig Faller, head of the US Southern Command, in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
"China is looking for multiple portals in this hemisphere," he continued, referring to seaports, airports and other transit centers.
“Depending on the day they are like 40 more or less.
And when I look at where they are strategically focused (West Coast, East Coast, South Panama, the Caribbean), I can see a future in which
these ports will become a hub for their growing navy of the high seas that far exceeds the ... defense needs of
their homeland ”.
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But the military implications are not the only concern among US officials.
Faller said China is moving rapidly toward its goal of economic dominance in Central and South America within the next decade.
And he added that, in 2019, the People's Republic of China became
the main trading partner of countries such as Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay
and is now the second largest trading partner in the region after the United States.
From 2002 to 2019, Chinese trade with Latin America soared
from $ 17 billion to more than $ 315 billion, he
said.
Along with economic influence comes political influence, said Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the Institute for Strategic Studies at the US Army War College.
"If you bring the projects and you have the political relationships and all the influence of the leading politicians and families, it is natural that other types of influence emerge," he said.
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In El Salvador, a proposal is being discussed to expand and develop a deep-water port built by Japan called La Unión, located in the Gulf of Fonseca at the intersection of Salvadoran, Honduran and Nicaraguan territory.
China is proposing to expand the port and establish trade zones that would exclude American and European companies
, allowing Chinese port operators, Chinese shipping companies and potential Chinese service providers to dominate those zones, Ellis said.
The Chinese government seeks to use the port and zones to import its products and distribute them to other Central American markets without involving local companies, Ellis said, adding that Chinese investors have expressed interest in building an airport in La Unión, which would reinforce even more the area as a center of commerce.
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According to the State Department, a Sino-Salvadoran investor named Bo Yang has bought land for the port expansion, including half of Perico Island.
He went on to offer island residents up to $ 7,000 to relocate,
Ellis said, and the purchase advanced in late 2019. US officials say Yang is China's agent in El Salvador and has been promoting business there. country for 30 years.
In 2018, Yang told the Salvadoran media that he was dealing directly with property owners on the island and that he was not working with any government.
"These are just businesses, like when you go to buy a house and see it with the owners," he said.
The 46-page submission NBC News landed says
the economic zone would be a $ 3 billion project spanning 1,700 square miles.
Earlier this year, the State Department published a congressionally mandated list of Salvadoran officials “who have engaged in acts that undermine democratic processes or institutions, are related to significant corruption, and have obstructed investigations into acts of corruption in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador ”.
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On the list was Ezequiel Milla Guerra, former mayor of La Unión, who "committed significant acts of corruption by abusing his authority as mayor in the sale of Perico Island to agents of the People's Republic of China, in exchange for personal gain." says the document.
State Department officials say China is increasingly adept at using bribes and other corrupt methods to further its business interests, something that is illegal for US corporations.
The list also named associates of El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, including a close associate and a former security minister.
Bukele has expanded his cooperation with China
since his predecessor moved the country's embassy from Taipei to Beijing three years ago.
In response to the State Department's "corrupt" list, the relationship between the two countries has intensified.
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On Twitter, Bukele praised what he said was a $ 500 million investment by China in El Salvador "without strings attached," which was interpreted as a criticism of the good governance conditions that Washington and US-backed lenders often use. require to grant their aid.
The diplomatic representatives of China and El Salvador did not respond to requests for comment.
"There is a new generation of governments that, if they want to engage in corruption and protect themselves from the consequences, can turn away from Western investors in the United States and turn to China as an alternative," Ellis said
.
"China has become an incubator for populist governments."
The United States Southern Command covers Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, including the responsibility of defending the Panama Canal.
Faller, who ends his three-year tenure as commander of that body in October, said he has observed that China constantly encroaches on his area of operations.
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“China seeks to harness its vision for the future, its vision of the global world order and
does not seek partnerships based on mutual respect and trust.
It stimulates and builds based on dependency ”, he warns.
In addition to strategic investments, Faller said,
China provides technology to authoritarian regimes, including Venezuela and Cuba
, that allows them to more efficiently suppress dissent.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is "using Chinese technology and training to socially control that population," he said, adding that the Chinese are "working with Cuba, Russia, and increasingly with Iran to ensure that Maduro remains in it. power because that form of government is favorable to Chinese economic interests ”.
The Cuban regime was able to quickly quell civil unrest, he said, because it uses Chinese providers Huawei and ZTE to operate its cell phone and information technology networks.
"There is a growing Chinese influence in Cuba," he
said.
The Biden Administration's response to China's aggressive approach has been measured.
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"It is not the policy of the United States to force our partners to choose between our country and China," said a senior government official who was not authorized to comment on the issue.
"But what we offer is an association that works for the benefit of the interests of our partners, focused on our shared values,
respect for democratic governance for human rights, transparency ...
inclusive economic growth and entrepreneurship" .
However, the official acknowledged that China has a much more strategic approach than to harness its economic might.
"They use a geostrategic approach where, if they think they need to do something for their investment purposes, the government just orders it to happen," the official said.
"We do not have a state-led approach
," the official added.
"Obviously, we are working to encourage US investment, including major projects in Latin and Central America, whether in the Panama Canal or other major investment initiatives."
However, many experts say that China is winning and that the United States must abandon its rigid adherence to pure free market principles when it comes to foreign investment.
"It is probably counterproductive and unworkable to try to prevent our partners from engaging commercially with China," Ellis told NBC News. "However, the
United States can influence that situation in a way that is less incompatible with the principles of democracy and human rights
and the rule of law and free markets, and less threatening to both the region and the United States."