Ana Sophia, an year-old Colombian girl, shows a message of encouragement for the Chinese people in Bogota, Colombia, February 7, Editor's note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter.
The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. There have been some high-profile developments in Latin America that involve China, right in the United States' neighborhood, ahead of the new year. Namely, this includes Cuba's cooperation plan with China on the Belt and Road Initiative BRI and Nicaragua's decision to cut "diplomatic ties" with the Taiwan region and reestablish relations with Beijing.
Both of these developments have sparked outrage in Washington, primarily among cold war dinosaurs, who believe this is a sign of some kind of communist insurgency at the empire's heels. However, the reality is much different, and this outdated analysis obfuscates why so many countries β not just ones in Latin America β are teaming up with China.
The major key is this: Cooperation with China does not come with any political strings attached. This is why the BRI is so successful β it does not come with pre-conditions or so-called structural adjustments and allows countries to choose their own projects based on their priorities.
It is a logical alternative to existing mechanisms, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which are essentially fronts for U. Another development that went relatively unnoticed, compared to the two previously mentioned, both of which demonstrate that China's involvement in Latin America is not ideologically-driven, would be the fact that Jean Manes, U.
