Admiral Craig Faller, chief of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), is visiting as part of the Combat Outpost Surveillance and Force Protection System (COSFPS/Kraken) operation that coordinates actions against organized crime in the Caribbean. Admiral Faller will meet with Vice President Raquel Peña, given that President Luis Abinader is in Andorra for the Iberoamerican Summit.
He recently expressed that top on the list of concerns of US Southcom is counteracting China’s influence in the 31 countries of the US Southcom area of responsibility in Central and South America, south of Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin. In his participation in the 14 January 2021 Surface Navy Association Virtual Symposium, Craig expressed that China has been actively engaging several countries with economic and land deals leading to large infrastructure projects with possible military and diplomatic implications.
“Why would China want to achieve a deep-water seaport off El Salvador, Jamaica, perhaps the Dominican Republic?” Faller asked. “Their long-term interest is economic dominance, and they’ll do what it takes,” he said.
“The Panama Canal is key terrain in all of this,” Faller said, noting China is negotiating deals for ports at either end of the canal.
“Additionally, hundreds of Huawei systems are in place, in Latin American cities, well ahead of any competitor in that space,” Faller said. The Chinese telecom giant is the world’s second-largest phone maker. American officials are concerned Huawei networks will give the Chinese government new avenues of surveillance. Huawei says that it does not spy for the Chinese government. The Pentagon is worried Chinese telephonic equipment sold to South American governments could make communication between the US and partner nations less secure.
“The US is responding in a good way with a clean network program by the State Department,” Faller said. China is lobbying for the Dominican government to consider the Huawei technology.
Faller has said that the best way to counter Chinese influence in Latin America and the Caribbean is to build and maintain military-to-military partnerships, continue joint naval exercises, cooperate in counter narcotics operations and maintain constant US presence in the region.
In recent weeks, China has the ear of the Dominican authorities because of vaccine diplomacy. China came to the rescue of the Dominican population sending more than one million Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines. US companies have not delivered on the purchases of vaccines made by the Dominican government. Vice President Raquel Peña is the head of the Health Cabinet and has been at the forefront of efforts to secure vaccines for the Dominican people.
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El Dia
Sea Power Magazine
DR1 News
US Southcom
20 April 2021