China’s Long March to Global Domination

While the world’s attention is focused on events unfolding in Afghanistan, China is not only simultaneously courting the various Taliban factions throughout Central Asia, it also is busy behind-the-scenes curtailing US influence inside the Organization of American States (OAS). Over 73 years ago the OAS was founded to create solidarity, defend sovereignty, uphold territorial integrity, and develop cooperation among the independent states in the Americas. The United States hosts its headquarters in Washington, DC and has held enormous influence within the organization since its founding. China wants to use the OAS to take control away from Washington and emerge as a new center of influence in left-leaning Latin American governments.

The United States historically considers the vast majority of Latin America to be within its sphere of influence. Over the last decade China has made large inroads in the socialist, anti-American, and anti-democratic “left belt” regimes — Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua – with the goal of reducing US geopolitical power in the region. It also is clear that China uses its Confucius Institutes as a tool to push out its propaganda message.

On the military hardware side, Venezuela has acquired a large inventory of Chinese weaponry including infantry fighting vehicles, Y-8 transport aircraft, multiple launch rocket systems and guided missiles, as well as expanded inter-army exchanges. In addition to the left belt, other countries are showing some support for China. According to the Lansing Institute, China has a strategic satellite tracking base operational with dual use potential in Neuquen province south of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Recently a radar system linked to China’s interests was discovered at the former Russian Lourdes SIGINT facility in Cuba, just 90 miles off the US shoreline. The list is long, but the projects often are incomplete.

Latin American political leaders operate, more or less, within systems that follow democratic procedures, unlike those in Africa where China has hegemonic influence. But there are Latin American leaders China can count on for support. Argentina’s new Defense Minister Jorge Taiana, was a guerrilla combatant convicted of murder in the 1970’s. He is a Chinese regime protectionist, according to an August 2021 Robert Lansing Institute report. Taiana has called for the resignation of the head of the OAS, Luis Amalgro, because he strongly condemned the “left belt” states for their human rights violations. Taiana’s ties to Beijing go back at least 11 years. In past he has stated that Argentina’s connection with China is deeper than just a commercial one. He defines it as a “comprehensive strategic relationship.” Earlier this year Taiana said “The achievements of the Communist Party of China, which turns 100, with the reconstruction, rebirth and progress of Chinese society in general, are inseparable.”

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President Xi Jinping wants to gain market access and secure contracts for additional natural resources from the region, too. China uses the “raw materials for aid scheme” to pursue its interests, which currently include minerals and agricultural products, oil, iron, copper, and soybeans. Last year a full 65% of Venezuela’s oil went to China to secure its growing manufacturing sector. In return Beijing provided Venezuela $62 billion in loans. The US can’t compete with the Chinese style lending programs. Lansing Institute notes that $21 billion in Chinese investments in 790 joint projects also needs to be added to the equation. In Chile, 95% of its copper exports go to China and Peru also is dependent on copper and gold exports to China.

Although China may not be achieving all of its goals yet, its moves in Latin America bear careful scrutiny given Beijing’s track record in Africa and other areas of the world. Afghanistan is in chaos, but it is not the only place that could witness trouble this year. Washington needs to learn that China doesn’t play by the Western rulebook.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay