* Experts address the risks of China’s presence in the region at the ‘South America in Competition’ conference.
** They assessed how the main U.S. adversary moves pieces to gain more geopolitical ground.
Expediente Público / Washington
Around 200 participants and experts from the private sector, academia, and the security industry gathered for two days in Reston, Virginia (USA), to review the risks of Chinese influence in South America, among other key topics considering U.S. security interests.
The high-level experts discussion forums at “South America in Competition’” delved into how cutting-edge technologies in communications, strategic positioning, and markets should raise alarms in the United States.
This is due to the proximity of Latin America to the U.S., a region considered for decades as the area of greatest influence by the world’s leading power, which China now seeks to dominate.
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China Among the Threats to the U.S.
The forum—organized by the Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI), the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA), and the cybersecurity firm Carahsoft—focused on alliances with non-state actors, threats to U.S. national security, and the rise of emerging technologies from China.
Retired Colombian Army General Alberto José Mejía Ferrero delivered the keynote address on the forum’s opening day, outlining a South American security landscape shaped by China’s growing regional influence, the rise of transnational organized crime, and the ongoing battle against criminal economies.
General Mejía Ferrero served as commander-in-chief of the Colombian Armed Forces during President Juan Manuel Santos’s second term, which ended in 2018. He also served as ambassador to Australia under President Iván Duque.
China and Its Areas of Influence
Mejía Ferrero emphasized that China’s influence cannot be ignored, citing the scale of its economic reach, infrastructure investments, and strategic capabilities across the region.
He also told Expediente Público that Chinese influence in sectors such as technology, ports, and finance is already a reality in the region—one that must be confronted, as it often intersects with dynamics that contribute to institutional weakening.
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Guido Torres, executive director of IWI and organizer of the event, told Expediente Público that conferences like this one help shed light on Latin America’s pressing challenges—particularly security issues that are of growing concern to the United States.
“It’s a critically important region that we often discuss, but rarely in terms of practical solutions,” Torres said. “The goal is to offer real, tangible options that benefit our regional partners and help strengthen their sovereignty.”
“We are inextricably linked when it comes to problems. Therefore, what affects the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean also affects the United States,” said the IWI director.
Facing China’s Tentacles
According to Guido Torres, external actors like China and its increasingly prominent role in the region are ‘slowly strangling democracies and the liberal international world order’.
Also: Guido Torres: We must not underestimate China’s access to South American aerospace
He added that the convergence of key actors—such as the private sector, academia, and civil society—can play a crucial role in supporting viable solutions and reinforcing government efforts throughout the region.
The United States does not only see China as an adversary to its national security interests in the Western Hemisphere. According to Torres, Russia, Iran, and North Korea also top the list of countries that concern the U.S. due to their interest in strategic areas of influence.
Torres emphasized the need to keep a close watch on undemocratic countries he described as “malicious regional allies and actors”—a category that typically includes Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and at times extends to Bolivia and other nations.
Security Alliances
The IWI’s concern focuses on Beijing’s capabilities in reaching agreements with governments in the region that appear innocuous, but which upon deeper examination entail high risks.
Related: Leland Lazarus: Hemispheric security at risk from autocracies and global mafias
Torres cites Chile as an example, which for decades has maintained a strong security alliance with the United States, especially with the Department of Defense.
According to Torres, ‘A closer look at certain agreements between China and Chile—including the fiber optic cable, the transpacific cable, and space cooperation—indicates a risk to the national security of the United States and the Chilean people.
Technology, the New Threat
Professor Evan Ellis, a leading expert on Chinese influence in Latin America from the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), noted that the conference discussions provided valuable insights for learning from experiences and identifying solutions.
These dialogues also served to align perspectives and deepen understanding of China’s expanding regional influence, which has evolved significantly beyond its initial commercial focus over the past two decades.
Also: China Index reveals Beijing’s network in Latin America
According to Ellis, the time has come to tie up loose ends and propose strategies, given the extent of Chinese influence.
The expert argues that China’s influence extends beyond economic and commercial spheres, emphasizing the need to understand it as a more complex entity given its increasingly sophisticated use of cutting-edge technologies
Ellis warned, “This is something new. Dangers arise from these technologies, in addition to the political influence that accompanies such interactions”.
The conference also analyzed the scope of drone commercialization and use in Latin American and Caribbean countries, and how legislation in many of these countries remains lagging in regulating such activities.
One striking example is the growing use of drones by organized crime. In Colombia, drug trafficking groups linked to the National Liberation Army (ELN) have launched hundreds of drone attacks against state security forces in recent months, leaving several soldiers dead.
Cases in Ecuador and Mexico have also shown how low-cost technologies, originally marketed as consumer goods from China, can fall into the hands of criminal groups and become serious security threats.
