SAN SALVADOR –
El Salvador’s president and Chinese ambassador exchanged flattery this month as they paved the way for a new national library, one of the many gifts China has promised this small mountainous nation as part of its energetic quest to gain influence in all over Central America.
While smiling at photos, Ambassador Ou Jianhong expressed his “greatest respect” for President Nayib Bukele, a polarizing leader who has attacked El Salvador’s democratic institutions and repeatedly clashed with US officials. Bukele praised in return Chinese President Xi Jinping, an authoritarian who has constructed China’s progress at the expense of civil liberties.
When completed, the seven-story library will tower over San Salvador’s central square, a symbol of China’s growing presence in the region and a reminder that as relations between the United States and El Salvador have cooled, El Salvador has taken refuge in China’s deep pockets and warm embrace.
A new Cold War is brewing in Latin America between USA and China in the midst of a changing global order driven more by economics and technology than by politics and ideology.
Over the past two decades, China has made significant progress in the region, offering loans, forging free trade agreements and expanding trade at huge rates. Trade between China and Latin America has grown 26 times between 2000 and 2020, surpassing $ 315 billion, according to the World Economic Forum. Trade between the United States and Latin America amounted to $ 767 billion in 2020.
Until recently, China’s activities had largely focused on South America – the purchase of soybeans in Brazil, lithium in Bolivia and sales of billions in Chinese goods and technology….