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At the end of this year, the United States commemorates the 200th anniversary of the declaration of the “Monroe Doctrine,” which established the influence of the United States over the rest of the countries of the continent to its south, and prevented them from being subjected to any process of invasion or colonization by external powers. Although the intended colonizer at that time was the one coming from Europe, the surprises of history made China the one who represented this danger. The “Coalition of the Americas for Economic Prosperity” summit, which Washington hosted last weekend, is only one of the steps of the US administration’s response to the growing Chinese expansion in Central and South America.
Before talking about the aforementioned summit and its objectives, it is important to clarify some geographical terms that seem self-evident, but cause confusion when it comes to the details of the American continent, especially between the names of South America and Latin America. The names North, South and Central America and the Caribbean countries are all names that depend on the geographical location of the country on the continent, which is divided into north and south, and between them is the central region and the Caribbean basin. As for the name “Latin”, it includes all the 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 initiative
Returning to the “Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity” summit, it is an economic initiative launched by US President Joe Biden last year, within the framework of expanding American alliances to resist the Chinese influx in the southern hemisphere of the continent.
Eleven countries on the continent participated in this initiative, and the presidents of Chile, Colombia, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, and Barbados attended its first edition. Mexico and Panama were content to send 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 timing of the summit coinciding with his country’s national holiday. As for the President of Mexico – who is known for his few foreign visits – he is considered a prominent critic of US foreign policy, despite his close cooperation with it on the issue of irregular immigration, in addition to He recently denounced the American role in the war on Gaza.
Through this summit, Washington aims to make the Western Hemisphere “the most economically competitive region in the world,” in addition to making the entire American continent “safe, prosperous, and democratic, from the far north of Canada to the far south of Chile,” as the US President put it. This explains why the summit addressed topics outside economics, the most important of which are the issue of climate change, the role of the American continent in leading it, and irregular migration towards the United States, as one of the results of unsuccessful economic policies in the countries of Central and South America. According to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of displaced people and refugees on the American continent as of this year reached 21 million people, including 6 million Venezuelans. US President Biden announced the allocation of investments worth $485 million to help refugees, immigrants, and population groups with no means in poor areas. But the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, believed that this aid should have been allocated to creating job opportunities in the countries of these irregular immigrants, in order for them to remain in their countries, since the economic situation is the main factor behind the phenomenon of migration in general. President Petro had stated on a previous occasion that the United States – which is fed up with the waves of asylum seekers, especially Venezuelans in the democratic American provinces – must lift the siege 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 whetting the appetite of member countries to expand the group, and to work with priority to advance all of their economies, and called on them to choose democratic and transparent investments, in reference to American loans and their allies from international financial institutions, instead of resorting to partners. From outside the continent, and to avoid 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 region in the period between 2000-2022, doubled 35 times, while The region’s total trade with the world has increased only four-fold, according to figures from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Islands. In addition to this, China has succeeded in concluding free trade agreements with Costa Rica and Chilean Peru, despite the different orientations of their governments, and Ecuador, which postponed the signing of the agreement until the resumption of Parliament’s work this month.
Silk Road
It is not an exaggeration to say that China – which has pumped billions of dollars in investments into infrastructure in Latin America, through loans that countries must repay at high interest rates – has succeeded in including 21 countries within the framework of the so-called “Silk Road” initiative. In addition to the recent membership of Brazil and Argentina in the BRICS group, he promised to include Venezuela and Bolivia in the next stage.
Although the “Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity” summit – as its name indicates – concerns the subject of the economy, the presidents of Chile and Colombia refused to declare 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 Boris called on US President Biden to intervene to stop what is happening. This is happening, and Presidents Petro and Boris are facing 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.
