House lawmakers want a comprehensive assessment from the Pentagon of China's military, economic and diplomatic activities in Latin America and the Caribbean after the head of U.S. Southern Command earlier this year publicly warned of Beijing's stepped-up efforts to gain influence across the region. The House Armed Services Committee in its version of the fiscal year 2022 defense authorization bill would require the Defense Department - in collaboration with the State and Treasury departments as well as the director of national intelligence - to prepare a report with a sweeping scope on efforts by China to expand its presence and influence in the Western Hemisphere. The proposed legislation would require an unclassified report by mid-June 2022 "that identifies efforts by the Government of the People's Republic of China to expand its presence and influence in Latin America and the Caribbean through diplomatic, military, economic and other means, and describes the implications of such efforts on the United States' national defense and security interests." The report would identify nations in the region with which China "maintains especially close diplomatic, military and economic" relations, enumerate strategic partnerships Beijing has established with entities in Latin America, nations that have joined the Belt and Road Initiative or the Asian Infrastructure Bank and where Beijing provides foreign assistance, disaster relief and COVID-19 vaccines.
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