An influential Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee recently returned from Latin America, where he met with government officials to discuss threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
Texas Republican August Pfluger led a congressional delegation to South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. Representatives from both the public and private sectors met with lawmakers. They were given briefings by law enforcement authorities from several countries and given a tour of the Darien Gap region.
There is a continuing problem at the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of the media’s attention has been focused on the flow of migrants to the U.S. via the gap as they attempt to enter the country from nations like Venezuela.
Pfluger is looking at a different kind of danger that the United States must address. He spoke to the media about how the Chinese Communist Party is active in the area through many means, including trade, communications, port development, and the deployment of unconventional military strategies.
He explained that the problems aren’t limited to the border and that work must be done there. U.S. national security demands participation; the region has been neglected for far too long.
The United States government has labeled China’s efforts to establish a listening station in Cuba a continuous problem, and it was revealed last month that Beijing had made such an effort.
Additionally, other lawmakers have raised awareness of the dangers. Republican Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty expressed concern that China might fill the power void created by the absence of United States leadership.
Pfluger, the chairman of the Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Subcommittee, said he had frequently raised the issue in talks with government officials and that his message to the foreign ministers of these countries had been simple.
Pfluger reportedly warned the foreign ministers that their countries need to push back and be clear-eyed about what the ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party are.
Pfluger stated that Panama is trading with the Chinese dictatorship and has signed onto parts of the Chinese Belt & Road Initiative in recent years. Pfluger identified it as a crucial region over which China actively exerts more influence.
He stated that the Panama Canal was an important strategic position and that the Chinese wanted to build ports and other infrastructure on the Pacific and Atlantic sides. Therefore, if China owns that maritime line, it may significantly influence the area.
Pfluger claims he was direct with the foreign ministers of Colombia and Panama when he told them the United States needed them as a partner to push back against the Chinese Communist Party, particularly in the area of ports and telecommunications, due to China’s desire to undermine the Western world and freedom.
According to Pfluger, Chinese influence in the region is to blame for the persistent migration and drug issues spread across the continent and into the United States.
He warned that narcotics and human trafficking would increase if the Chinese Communist Party established itself in those nations.
He also noted that trafficking groups appear to be increasing their routes to transport people from China to South America and then up the continent.
The Committee has noticed an upsurge in the number of high-value Chinese targets detained and seized in Pfluger’s district over the past few years. He warned that if they succeed in exerting influence in these nations, malice will naturally spread to other parts of the world.
The Chinese Communist Party’s goal is well-known: to weaken the United States however they can. And the first step is to establish reliable alliances. It may start economically, and at first glance, it seems manageable. But it’s serious, Pfluger said, since it has been seen worldwide.