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Cooperation for repression? The case of China in Central America
The study of Chinese influence in Latin America has undoubtedly focused on the economic and trade relations between the Asian giant and the countries of the region. While there is a considerable body of research on, for example, China’s soft power, analyses of the country’s political and institutional influence in the region are less common. Among Beijing’s instruments of political internationalization are people-to-people diplomacy, Chinese paradiplomacy, and the multilateral engagement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Latin America through forums such as the China-CELAC Forum and its various subforums, which facilitate exchanges with media outlets, think tanks, political parties, and civil society sectors. These mechanisms, which in democratic countries function as vehicles of sharp power, acquire particular significance in their interaction with non-democratic regimes. In Central America, the cases of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras—classified by V-Dem respectively as a closed autocracy, an electoral autocracy, and a gray-zone electoral democracy—illustrate how these ties can be instrumentalized in two directions: on the one hand, recipient governments use them to reinforce practices of power concentration; on the other, China leverages them to consolidate its strategic presence in the isthmus. In this regard, cooperation between China and these countries should not be understood merely...
How the Global South anticipated the rules of trade in times of uncertainty
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Concern over democracy in Latin America is rising
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