While America wars with itself, Red China is nefariously positioning itself in our region

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China continues to spread its influence militarily and economically throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, the head of U.S. Southern Command said Dec. 2.

“I think what they're doing [in the region] matches what they're doing globally. It's a full court press to have China become the world's dominant power,” Adm. Craig. S. Faller, Southcom commander, told reporters in a briefing.

The 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy identified the Asian nation as a great power competitor.

“China is working for their version of the world order globally," said Faller, whose area of responsibility as head of Southcom includes much of the Americas.

Faller laid out a variety of means Beijing is trying to spread its influence, from potential naval bases to economics, politics and influence operations.

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Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to invest in foreign nations’ infrastructure as a means to spread its influence, had one country in the region signed on four years ago. It now has 40, Faller noted.

China is particularly interested in seaport infrastructure and has signed 40 commercial port deals in Southcom’s area of operations, he said.

China is looking for a deep water port in Mexico, Bahamas, El Salvador, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Panama, and possibly in Surinam or Guyana. “They're working lots of options — some farther south,” he said.

“What does it look like if China has a strategic control of the Strait of Magellan, or the Panama Canal, the approaches to the Gulf of Mexico through a Caribbean port? What does that look like in a global conflict?” Faller asked.

“The Panama Canal is a significant global choke point. We were concerned as we watched China working port deals on either side of the canal,” he added

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