The US Intensifies '21st-century Monroe Doctrine' in Latin America

By Global Times

Apr 10, 2025 08:59 PM

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Recently, the US has intensified its rhetoric against China-Latin America cooperation. According to the Associated Press, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that "China's military has too large of a presence in the Western Hemisphere," and just one day earlier, he claimed that China poses "a threat to the Panama Canal." 

For a long time, the US has regarded Latin America and the Caribbean as its "backyard." To discredit the normal activities of other countries in Latin America while forcing regional nations to take sides, the US has spared no effort in staging one "Monroe Doctrine" farce after another.

Whether it's hyping up China's "military presence" or maliciously linking China to the Panama Canal issue, the US is employing the old trick of "a thief crying 'stop thief,'" in an attempt to push China out of the region. Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that the claim that China's military presence is "too large" is false. It's the US that maintains a substantial military presence, currently operating around 76 military bases in the region. Pan stated that China neither has a military base nor deploys any troops to the region, making the US' claim that China is gaining a "military advantage" in Latin America completely baseless.

During his visit, Hegseth openly floated the idea of US troops returning to Panama to "secure" its strategically vital canal. This clearly reflects America's intention to use military and political pressures to force Latin American countries into compliance, said Lin Hua, a deputy researcher at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He noted that over the more than two centuries since the "Monroe Doctrine" was introduced, noticeably Latin American nations have grown increasingly resentful of US hegemonism and unilateralism.

The Monroe Doctrine is synonymous with America asserting its dominance over the region. The US' bullying of its neighbors has continued to this day and intensified. The US demands control of the Panama Canal and pressures Colombia to accept deported migrants from the US... It's clear who exactly is coercing neighboring countries into becoming "vassal states." No wonder that Mexicans say, "Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the US."

In contrast, win-win cooperation is the keyword in China-Latin America relations. In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America has deepened and yielded concrete results. From Peru's Chancay Port to Brazil's Mauriti Photovoltaic Project, and from Latin American agricultural products to Chinese-made home appliances and automobiles, the path to prosperous win-win cooperation is widening. These collaborative projects are highly welcomed by local communities, viewed as a "ladder for development." 

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the 9th summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Thursday. He stated that China and Latin America have deepened political trust, expanded practical cooperation and enhanced people-to-people exchanges, delivering benefits to both peoples and setting an example for South-South cooperation. 

China welcomes cooperation that genuinely promotes development. If the US continues to approach Latin American affairs from the standpoint and principles of the Monroe Doctrine - smearing China's legitimate cooperation while interfering in Latin American nations' independent choices and attempting to control them, clinging to outdated colonial dreams to hinder win-win cooperation - it will only further erode its own influence in the region.