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Cybersecurity Research
  1. I. INTRODUCTION
    1. Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

There is little to no historical antipathy between China and Africa or China and Latin America. The issue is not merely whether China is a neo-colonial power (it is)3 but rather how colonial and post-colonial legacies facilitated China’s rise and continued welcomed presence in specific regions. This article adds to the literature by arguing a parochial focus on China’s neo-colonial practices, without more, misses a larger point. By failing to locate and properly contextualize colonial and post-colonial trauma, Western powers––the U.S. in particular-–will continue to be confounded why authoritarian China is embraced in Africa and Latin America. Beijing’s engagement with both regions is multifaceted. Its lack of an unfriendly, aggressive, or colonial past allows it to masquerade hardline neo-colonial strategies as mutually beneficial policies for economic partnership and growth. China has a compelling story that sells well in Africa and Latin America. It survived harsh colonial regimes, internal chaos, and extreme poverty only to emerge an economic and socio-political juggernaut. But the China presented to the world is a mirage; its true nature is found in the horrors of Xinjiang concentration camps, privacy

3 See AT Editor, Is China the Neocolonial Power in Africa?, AFRICA TIMES (Oct. 27, 2019, 7:01 PM), https://africatimes.com/2019/10/27/is-china-theneocolonial-power-in-africa/.

erasing digital state surveillance models, the Hong Kong crackdown, intellectual property theft by state-sponsored companies, and debt trap diplomacy. Beijing does not often reveal its true intentions. “Wolf-warrior” diplomacy is a rare instance of a Chinese Communist Party mistake. The Belt and Road Initiative is less an infrastructure and telecommunications project, albeit on a massive scale, than it is a hortatory expression of 21st century Chinese global hegemony. The Belt and Road Initiative will not make the world more egalitarian, secure, or free. Only the U.S. can counter Chinese aggression against ethnic and political minorities within China and against unfair trade practices and technology inequity internationally. However, a slick post-colonial lexicon is insufficient to explain to Africa and Latin America why, sooner or later, they will reach a point of no return with China. The U.S. must first reckon with the BLM movement against systemic racism and its international COVID-19 response before regaining the necessary moral authority to counter China on the world stage.

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