Evan Ellis - Race to the Bottom: China and the Self-Defeating Logic of Transactional Diplomacy in the Americas
Dear Colleague,
With this email, I would like to share with you my article on the importance of Latin America pursuing its own interests with respect to working with the PRC in Latin America (not choosing “between” the US and PRC.”)
I argue that Latin America’s best prospects for ensuring that international engagements benefit its people (and not merely those who sign the deals), requires transparency, rule-of-law, and technically competent institutions for evaluating and adjudicating contracts, proposed mergers, and applying the law equally to all parties. It also requires an informed debate about the relative risks of PRC-based and other companies trusted to operate in the region.
I argue that the region further needs a thoughtful open discussion about the role of democracy, limited government, a free press, and protections of the individual in securing benefits for its people and managing risks…particularly given the region’s vulnerabilities to predatory actors due to imperfect institutions.
I argue that Latin American populations should not allow their elites to “get away” with dismissing valued concerns about PRC behavior and the track record of its companies, simply by calling such well-founded concerns “great power competition.” Whatever the region may believe about US motives for expressing concerns, allowing their elites to avoid serious consideration of such concerns with the broken refrain that “the US doesn’t come up with a bigger deal” too often allows those elites to “take the Chinese money” despite the risks, leaving successor governments and the population to clean up the mess of corruption and poorly conceived and educated projects…as has happened so many times in Latin America prior to the current era of PRC engagement.
The English-language article, published by the Diplomat in April, is available here for download:
It is also available at The Diplomat website:
https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/race-to-the-bottom-china-and-the-self-defeating-logic-of-transactional-diplomacy-in-the-americas/
The Spanish-language version of the article, translated and published by the SOUTHCOM journal Dialogo, is available here for download:
It is also available on the Dialogo website:
https://dialogo-americas.com/es/articles/carrera-hacia-el-abismo-china-y-la-logica-autodestructiva-de-la-diplomacia-transaccional-en-las-americas/#.ZGJU8E_MI7d
The Portuguese-language version of the article, translated and published by the SOUTHCOM journal Dialogo, is available here for download:
It is also available on the Dialogo website:
https://dialogo-americas.com/pt-br/articles/corrida-para-o-fundo-a-china-e-a-logica-auto-defetiva-da-diplomacia-transacional-nas-americas/#.ZGJG_0_MI7c
Public Presentations, Podcasts and Radio Shows:
I would also like to share with you the links to my latest from my weekly on the John Batchelor Show, from his special ongoing series on Latin America, The New World Report. You may find these weekly podcasts to be a useful current analysis of key events in the region.
The latest episodes include:
Title 42 End and the US Border (May 10): https://audioboom.com/posts/8298802-newworldreport-title-42-and-after-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis-u-s-army-war-c
US Border Crisis - Part 2 (May 10): https://audioboom.com/posts/8298803-newworldreport-poison-at-the-border-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis-u-s-army-wa
Chile (May 10): https://audioboom.com/posts/8298806-newworldreport-chile-still-disordered-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis-u-s-army
Fragile Democracy and its Discontents (May 10): https://audioboom.com/posts/8298805-newworldreport-fragile-democracy-and-its-discontents-latin-american-research-professor-evan-el
Website for all Publications:
As always, at my professional website you can access the present, and all of my past publications, as well as select webinars and podcasts:
https://revanellis.com/
Book on China-Latin America:
My latest book, China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy, is available through my publisher Palgrave-Macmillan, at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-96049-0
Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. If you would like to be included in my (always free) distribution list, I welcome the opportunity to include you:
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work and the opportunity to continue in touch through this medium.
Respectfully,
R. Evan Ellis, PhD
Latin America Research Professor
U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
@REvanEllis
Website: https://revanellis.com
Linked In: linkedin.com/in/robert-evan-ellis-19a07975