Mutual success for Chinese and Latin American civilizations lies in respecting diversity, not imposing a certain model. This stands in sharp contrast with the hollow U.S. “alliance of values.”
The plenary session of the China-CELAC Forum ministerial meeting in Beijing, China on May 13, 2025.
The United States has called itself a preserver of global security and defender of democratic values, but this claim appears in sharp contrast with what U.S. President Donald Trump has done in Latin America since taking office. As the latest China-CELAC Forum opens a fresh chapter for the common progress of the Global South, the U.S. continues to disguise its hegemonic behavior as “security suggestions.” The double standard not only exposes the hypocrisy of Western geopolitics but also demonstrates the practical value of China-Latin America cooperation.
U.S. gives suggestions, China gives expressways and airports
On May 12, before the start of the China-CELAC Forum, Florida International University hosted the 10th Hemispheric Security Conference. Regardless of political position or diplomatic orientation, most attendees agreed that security and development are the two key issues facing Latin American nations in the coming years. Managing these challenges will inevitably involve navigating the relationship between China and the United States. The dominant topics of the meeting were the steady increase of Chinese influence in the region via trade and China’s investment in infrastructure.
Remarks by the Canadian consul general in Miami, Sylvia Cesaratto, revealed the divergent Chinese and U.S. attitudes toward Latin American and Caribbean countries: When you meet with U.S. officials, she said, what you usually get are suggestions; but when you meet with Chinese officials, you get expressways and airports.
Security through development
In a meeting with Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer on May 5, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that “putting America first also means we’re putting the Americas first” — which echoes the essence of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the idea that both North and South America are the domain of the United States, and other world powers are not welcome. This principle has long shaped U.S. policy toward Latin America.
Since his reelection, Trump has suddenly shown tremendous interest in Latin America and has made no secret of his “security concerns” — the core being the presence of China. American scholar Robert Evan Ellis once noted that U.S. intervention in Latin America generally uses security as a cover but neglects what the region truly needs: support for economic development.
In this regard, China-CELAC cooperation has proposed another line of logic for cooperation: promoting security through development. This means enhancing Latin American countries’ development through economic cooperation. The “five major projects” China has proposed, based on development, have provided a feasible blueprint for addressing Latin America’s “dependence.” The “Beijing Declaration” emphasizes upgrading China-CELAC economic cooperation through strengthening interconnectivity, infrastructure construction and supply chain stabilization.
In development projects, in particular, the Chinese side promises to bring high-quality construction projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, encourage more Chinese companies to invest in Latin America and broaden imports of fine Latin American products. This model of cooperation, based on win-win cooperation, is not only conducive to economic growth in Latin American countries but can also mitigate the instability the U.S. has brought about via military and economic intervention.
China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) cooperation also accentuates the importance of global multilateral cooperation. The Chinese and Latin American sides have unanimously called for reforming the international financial system, making it fairer and more efficient while increasing developing nations’ say in global governance. This is not only an active response to U.S. unilateralism but offers more room for Latin America’s development. By promoting security through development, China-CELAC cooperation offers a new path for Latin American nations to get rid of the U.S. trap of pan-securitization.
Responding to Latin America’s needs
Despite their abundant natural resources and strategic geographical locations, Latin America and Caribbean nations have been constrained by singular economic structures and reliance on outsiders. Regional countries have to varying degrees been bogged down by the “resource curse” and unbalanced development. When U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered words of support for Argentina’s “bold economic reforms” in disregard of its high unemployment and public dissatisfaction, China-CELAC cooperation provided an alternative development paradigm to the so-called Washington Consensus — paying more attention to human factors.
China promises 3,500 government scholarships, 10,000 trainings in China and 300 trainings in poverty-relief technologies through its public welfare projects. It also plans to carry out 300 “small yet beautiful” livelihood projects to genuinely improve ordinary people’s living conditions. This people-based model of cooperation will not only improve the sustainability of cooperation but will also help to boost the social impacts of China-CELAC cooperation.
China-CELAC cooperation in such emerging fields as clean energy and the digital economy has provided fresh dynamism for a Latin American economic transformation and upgrade. These measures not only accord with the general trend of global sustainable development but also have presented significant opportunities for Latin American nations to set themselves free of the model of primary products export.
Coping with U.S. interference
The U.S. preserves its influence on Latin America by means of political intervention, its military presence and economic coercion. Now with Trump 2.0, the U.S. is even more recklessly displaying its imperialist and mercantilist colors in Latin America. The entire world can see the U.S. rudely interfering in Panama’s sovereignty and its ambitions regarding the Panama Canal.
Beyond the canal, however, the U.S. authorities’ rude interference with the human rights of the general public in the northern triangle of Central America — on the pretexts of containing illegal immigration and cracking down on drugs — are more stealthy.
China, by contrast, centers on “peace projects.” It has put forward a model of security cooperation based on common security instead of zero-sum games, offering new thinking for Latin American nations to achieve stability and development. The Beijing Declaration unequivocally opposes the use or threat of force in international relations. It appeals, rather, for resolving disputes in peaceful ways. Both sides promise to strengthen cooperation against terrorism, corruption and cross-border organized crime, emphasizing that such actions must comply with international law and not become tools for interfering in other countries’ internal affairs.
In such new fields as cybersecurity and the governance of artificial intelligence, China and Latin America insist on promoting inclusive dialogue centered on the UN and oppose technological hegemony. This is also in sharp contrast with the U.S. practice of abusing claims of national security and forming exclusive alliances.
Dissolving ideological confrontation
To those who know Latin America well, such as Robert Evan Ellis, Trump’s Latin America policy is ironic in that some in the government wish to concentrate on confronting China by raising tariffs, cutting funding for aid programs and playing down the significance of soft power in regions beyond the Asia-Pacific. But the reality is that dramatically cutting the U.S. aid programs and resources for multilateral organizations will only undermine U.S. soft power in Latin America and give China opportunities for outsmarting the United States.
For a long time, U.S. soft power in Latin America has been built upon the “democracy vs. authoritarianism” ideological narrative, and has a mass following. Under Trump 2.0, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells Caribbean nations that Cuban medical workers in Jamaica are involved in “human trafficking” and “systematic exploitation,” his is forced to concede in a low voice that regional countries need to understand better. The U.S. government’s abusive use of ideological strategy is becoming increasingly hollow, lifeless and useless.
In this new era, dialogue between civilizations is conducive to neutralizing such confrontational narratives. The Beijing Declaration proposes to establish an outlook featuring equity, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness — and proposes a major dialogue between Chinese and Latin American civilizations.
China has committed to implementing public welfare projects to increase mutual trust via exchanges in education, culture and tourism. Such soft interactions may help break ideological barriers. The core of mutual learning between Chinese and Latin American civilizations lies in respecting diversity, rather than imposing a certain model. This, again, stands in sharp contrast with the exclusive nature of the hollow U.S. “alliance of values.”
