{"id":116535,"date":"2021-11-23T02:19:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T02:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/23\/a-red-line-in-central-america\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:40:54","slug":"a-red-line-in-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2021\/11\/23\/a-red-line-in-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A red line in Central America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Within days of the conclusion of the Nov. 15 virtual summit between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, news broke that China had been secretly integrating military capability into a commercial terminal operated by Chinese shipping company COSCO at Khalifa port in the United Arab Emirates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s conduct at Khalifa is characteristic of its conduct throughout its international dealings, both with nation-states and with businesses seeking access to Chinese capital, labor, suppliers, or markets \u2014 exploit counterparty economic desires to advance nationalist hegemonic goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese conduct is so widely known and well-documented that Xi\u2019s and Biden\u2019s summit bonhomie<\/a> amounts to another word that begins with \u201cb\u201d \u2014 but incongruous is more polite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UAE reportedly cooperated with the United States\u2019 request to stop COSCO\u2019s construction activities at Khalifa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if the covert military capability the United States discovered masquerading as just another belt-and-road infrastructure project was not half a world away but instead a short distance from its southern border?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what if that covert military capability was discovered in a nation whose autocratic leader\u2019s interests were not aligned with the interests of the United States, unlike the UAE\u2019s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicaragua<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Ortega began his fourth consecutive term as president of Nicaragua following an election this month \u2014 noteworthy because Ortega jailed opposition candidates to ensure the perpetuation of his power. Days later, the Biden administration banned him from entering the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Ortega\u2019s reign, Xinwei Telecom Enterprise Group, a Chinese company with state support run by billionaire Wang Jing, was granted permission to build and deploy telecommunications infrastructure and service nationwide<\/a>. The Nicaraguan government also granted one of Wang\u2019s other businesses permission to build a transnational canal (which has foundered). Both projects were to be financed by China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honduras<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March of this year, the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was sentenced by a federal judge in New York to life in prison<\/a> following the brother\u2019s criminal conviction for trafficking 200 tons of cocaine into the United States. During the prosecution of his brother, President Hernandez was described as an unindicted co-conspirator who took bribes in exchange for protecting a drug trafficker\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Honduran-Taiwanese ties, during Hernandez\u2019s presidency, Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinohydro Corporation built dams and hydroelectric generating capacity for Honduras, financed by China<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Salvador<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, used the Salvadoran congress which he controlled to remove the Salvadoran Attorney General and five judges from El Salvador\u2019s highest court<\/a> this past spring and is unabashed about the dictatorship he has established<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bukele also is unabashed about his embrace of China and willingness to create a permissive operating environment for China in El Salvador<\/a>. Port expansion is among the more than $500 million in infrastructure spending China has promised to El Salvador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s engagement in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador is merely a representative sampling of China\u2019s infrastructure activity in central America (and throughout the western hemisphere) exploiting economic desires \u2014 and corrupt autocratic rulers \u2014 to advance China\u2019s nationalist hegemonic goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\t