China’s ‘peaceful’ invasion

BUENOS AIRES - China, striving to match the superpower status of the United States, is boosting military contacts throughout Latin America and eyeing the region as a market for its growing arms industry, U.S. officials say.

Chinese military officials made 20 visits to counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean last year, says Gen. Bantz Craddock, who heads the U.S. Southern Command.

Gen. Craddock, in congressional testimony, reported that nine Latin American defense ministers visited Beijing during the same period.

“An increasing presence of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] in the region is an emerging dynamic that must not be ignored,” he said.

“The PRC’s growing dependence on the global economy and the necessity of protecting access to food, energy, raw materials and export markets has forced a shift in their military strategy,” he told the House Armed Services Committee.

Gen. Craddock added that Beijing’s most recent outline of military strategy “departs from the past and promotes a power-projection military, capable of securing strategic shipping lanes and protecting its growing economic interests abroad.”

The military dimensions of China’s economic push into Latin America have grown since Gen. Craddock gave that assessment in March, U.S. officials say.

“Chinese strategic thinking, from the writings of Sun Tzu to classic games such as ‘go’ emphasize the value of setting the stage, as much as the battle itself,” says Evan Ellis, a Latin American analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton.

“The idea is to position oneself at an advantage in all possible realms — politically, militarily or physically — so that if a tangible confrontation must occur, the adversary simply cannot prevail.”

New arms sales

China appears to be pushing to sell arms and technology to Latin America, especially to Venezuela, a key ideological partner that is working to reduce dependence on the U.S. as a primary weapons supplier.

China recently offered to sell Venezuela its new FC-1 fighter, a potential follow-up on its failed bid in 2001 to sell Caracas its low-tech K-8 training aircraft, one U.S.-based intelligence source says.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed deals to purchase long-range defense radars and a modern communication satellite from China.

In August, Venezuelan Defense Minister Orlando Maniglia and Qu Huimin, vice president of China’s state-owned Electronics Import and Export Corp., signed a deal for the purchase of three Chinese JYL-1 mobile air-defense radar systems.

The contract provides for radars, a command-and-control center, technical support and leased access to a satellite communication network.

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