Honduras Heralds Growth of Chinese Influence in the Western Hemisphere – The American

Honduras opened a new embassy in China this week. The move was a response to the opening of a Chinese embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras’ capital, reports the South China Morning Post.

Predicated upon Honduras removing its recognition of Taiwan, these new embassies are one of many ways that the PRC has been extending its soft power into Latin America and the Western Hemisphere. (RELATED: Countering China)

Turning Away From Taiwan

After Honduras switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing back in March, the number of nations that recognize Taiwanese sovereignty fell to 13. Latin America, which has seven of those 13 countries, is home to many of the island’s strongest official supporters, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

Regional support for Taiwan is waning, however, as Honduras is the latest in a line of Central American nations to turn to Beijing. Costa Rica switched recognition in 2007, followed by Panama in 2017, El Salvador in 2018, and Nicaragua in 2021. 

Taipei has not been blind to these developments, and it has made efforts to turn the tide. When Honduras flipped, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the Americas to strengthen relationships with those Latin nations that remain loyal, such as Guatemala and Belize, reports France 24. Diplomatic recognition, however, is not the only way China has been expanding its influence in the Western Hemisphere. (RELATED: Xi Must Be Laughing)

Confucian Controversy

The Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes, although controversial, have also been spreading throughout Latin America. The institutes are partnerships between Chinese and American universities that teach Chinese culture and Mandarin. According to the Congressional Research Service, reports have been circulating that the institutes pressure American academics and Chinese students at American universities to avoid topics that Beijing considers politically sensitive, and the institutes have even been accused of serving as espionage and propaganda hubs for Beijing. 

Confucius Institutes are not as controversial in Latin America. Sixty-two Confucius Institutes and Classrooms operate in the region, according to the Latin defense magazine Diálogo Americas. Though the same concerns that have been debated in the U.S. have also been aired south of the Rio Grande, many Latin Americans have fewer avenues to learn Mandarin and see the institutes as a valuable stepping stone to future opportunities, especially since the institutes have provided thousands of students with scholarships to study in China.

Belt and Road in Latin America

China and Latin America exchange much more than just culture — China is the region’s largest trading partner after the U.S. According to Ohio State University’s Center for Latin American Studies, 65 percent of Latin American nations have signed on to Beijing’s global infrastructure building project, known as the Belt and Road Initiative. By building or supporting mines, ports, data centers, railroads, electrical grids, 5G towers, roads, and other infrastructure, Beijing is becoming a greater force in Latin America.

Because the Belt and Road Initiative is often seen as “debt-trap diplomacy,” says the Council on Foreign Relations — a think tank at George Washington University — it has been highly criticized in the Western press. Venezuela, with $62 billion owed, is the deepest in debt.

China denies Western accusations and sees the Belt and Road Initiative as a boon. In a press conference last March, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the initiative has “created 420,000 local jobs and helped lift almost 40 million people out of poverty.” Qin continued, “The BRI is a practical and open initiative guided by the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits.”

Tapped Phone Lines?

In correlation with the Belt and Road Initiative, China has been expanding its state-owned telecommunications company Huawei throughout the region. According to the Center for Strategic Studies of the Peruvian Army  — a Peruvian military think tank — Huawei owns 50 percent of the Brazilian market and over 20 percent of the market in three other Latin American nations, and it works out of 20 regional countries in total.

Because Chinese companies are legally required to hand over any and all data requested by the PRC, as CNBC reports, Huawei is seen as a security threat to some Western governments. Indeed, all five members of the intelligence alliance Five Eyes have banned the company from their territory, reports NPR, with Canada being the last member to do so in 2022. (RELATED: What’s the Right Way on Huawei?)

Upon the ban’s announcement, Huawei Canada’s vice president of corporate affairs, Alykhan Velshi, told NPR that “we’re disappointed but not surprised.” He then referred to the ban as “one born of political pressure primarily from the United States.” 

In a separate interview, Velshi refuted the accusations that Huawei Canada is a security threat, arguing that it cannot be compelled to share information with the CCP — despite the fact that Chinese law requires it to do so. As he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “[W]e are a global company that is founded and based in China, but Huawei Canada is a Canadian company … It has to follow Canadian laws, and Canadian laws alone.”

Echoes of TikTok

Velshi’s statement and the accompanying concerns over Huawei’s presence in the Western Hemisphere echo a controversy surrounding the Chinese app TikTok. Last December, the company released a statement that read, “TikTok Inc., which offers the TikTok service in the United States, is a U.S. company bound by U.S. laws.”

According to Forbes, servers with TikTok user data are located in China and could be accessed by local employees. To mitigate those security concerns, the company has discussed spending $1.5 billion to move the servers that host American data to Texas.

Like Huawei, TikTok is seen as a security threat by some American leaders. As NPR reports, during the congressional TikTok hearing last March, Rep. Cathy Rodgers (R-Wash.) called the app “a weapon [used] by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you and manipulate what you see.”

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew refuted the claims, telling Congress that there is “no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data. They have never asked us, we have not provided it.” 

With China’s global influence on the rise, concerns over TikTok, Huawei, the Belt and Road Initiative, Confucius Institutes, and Taiwanese sovereignty will continue. As the PRC extends its soft power closer to home in Latin America, U.S. analysts will continue to watch China’s actions in the Western Hemisphere.

Halfway through earning a master’s in national security at the Institute of World Politics, Mason Stauffer is part of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class. When he isn’t preparing for his future career in the national security sector, Mason can usually be found hiking through the National Park System or playing his trumpet.