mandag 18. november 2024

China and Russia engage Latin America and the Caribbean differently. Both threaten US interests.

Influence, relating to foreign powers, comes in many forms and is accrued in many ways. It can encompass premeditated operations directed at a nation or region to spread disinformation, undermine democratic practices, and instigate dissension and strife. It can also mean the ability to constrain, channel, or divert what would otherwise be domestic-level decisions into a more favorable direction for foreign powers such as China and Russia.

China and Russia operate and influence in a myriad of ways, but the core of their influence is through covert and overt strategies to undermine the US position in the region and to shape the foreign policy preferences in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). For both China and Russia, this includes increasing support for what they call a “multipolar world,” with the United States cast as a declining power,