China-Latin America Military Engagement

<p>This monograph examines Chinese military engagement with Latin America in five areas: (1) meetings between senior military officials; (2) lower-level military-to-military interactions; (3) military sales; (4) military-relevant commercial interactions; and (5) Chinese physical presence within Latin America all of which have military-strategic implications. This monograph finds that the level of PRC military engagement with the region is higher than is generally recognized and has expanded in important ways in recent years: High-level trips by Latin American defense and security personnel to the PRC and visits by their Chinese counterparts to Latin America have become commonplace. The volume and sophistication of Chinese arms sold to the region has increased. Officer exchange programs institutional visits and other lower-level ties have also expanded. Chinese military personnel have begun participating in operations in the region in a modest yet symbolically important manner. The monograph also argues that in the short term PRC military engagement with Latin America does not focus on establishing alliances or base access to the United States but rather supporting objectives of national development and regime survival such as building understanding and political leverage among important commercial partners creating the tools to protect PRC interests in the countries where it does business and selling Chinese products and moving up the value-added chain in strategically important sectors. It concludes that Chinese military engagement may both contribute to legitimate regional security needs and foster misunderstanding. It argues that the U.S. should work for greater transparency with the PRC in regard to those activities as well as to analyze how the Chinese presence will impact the calculation of the region's actors in the context of specific future scenarios.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>