At today’s Chinese Foreign Ministry press briefing, spokesman Lin Jian responded sharply to questions about U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s just-concluded trip to five Central American countries—Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic—and particularly to his attacks on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and false allegations about Chinese cyberthreats and 5G technology. He also addressed Panama’s withdrawal from the BRI, announced in response to U.S. threats. China “deeply regrets” Panama’s decision not to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the BRI, Lin said, but denounced the “smear and sabotage” of BRI cooperation “through the means of pressure and coercion.” The U.S. attack and disruption of cooperation under the BRI, he said, “once again exposes its hegemonism.” The BRI is “one of the most popular international public goods and the largest scale international cooperation platform.”
Lin contrasted China’s “win-win” approach to Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, in which it offers cooperation with no strings attached, and aimed only at mutual benefit, to the U.S.’s “zero-sum and winner-take-all geopolitical calculations … steeped in Cold War mentality and ideological bias.” Its unfounded accusations against China are aimed at “sowing discord between China and relevant LAC countries,” Lin charged, but added that pointing fingers at normal cooperation between LAC countries and a third country “shows no respect for LAC countries.” Be forewarned, he said: “The overwhelming trend of China and LAC countries working together for stronger cooperation is irreversible.”
