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SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese official media on Monday criticized US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after making statements in Latin America about the hidden risks of seeking a Chinese investment in a battle for money. Influence in the region.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the press before boarding his plane at the Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico on October 19, 2018. Brendan Smialowski / Pool / via REUTERS
Pompeo was touring Latin America late last week, meeting with state leaders from Panama and Mexico. During the trip, Pompeo told reporters that "when China calls it, it is not always in the interest of your citizens".
"When they present offers that seem too good to be true, it is often the case," he said Thursday in Mexico, according to comments posted on the website of the US State Department.
In an editorial released on Monday, the China Daily government newspaper said Pompeo's remarks were "ignorant and malicious" and that critics claim that its "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative was creating debt traps in the country. other countries were wrong.
China is gaining ground in resource-rich Latin American countries, noting in Washington that the world's second largest economy is gaining weight in the region, while the trade war between the two countries is tense.
President Xi Jinping has advanced the project of widening trade corridors along a modern silk road linking Asia, Europe and Africa, injecting credits in the construction of roads, railways and ports as part of an infrastructure initiative worth billions of dollars.
The country also wants to involve the Latin American countries, although the initiative is starting to face increasing skepticism while some countries, such as Sri Lanka, are in debt with a debt that they were struggling to repay.
Mr. Pompeo said the US welcomed Chinese competition but criticized the lack of transparency of its state-owned enterprises and what it called a "predatory economic activity".
In comments made in Panama, he said countries should have "eyes wide open" on Chinese investment.
"It is simply true that in some parts of the world, China has invested so that countries are the worst off, and this should never be the case," he said.
The government daily Global Times said in a separate editorial on Monday that Pompeo's comments were "disrespectful," adding that the United States was trying to "build a gulf" between growing Sino-Latin American relations.
China criticized Pompeo's predecessor, Rex Tillerson, in February after declaring that Latin America "did not need new imperial powers" and that China "was using economic means to place the region in its orbit ".
In April, the Chinese ambassador to Peru said it would be disrespectful for the United States to drag Latin America into its trade dispute with Beijing.
While the United States traditionally had significant political weight in the region, China has become a major trading partner for many Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.
"Most countries are disappointed with the United States and want to get rid of their dependency," the Global Times said. "The countries of Latin America know how to weigh their interests."
Reportage of Adam Jourdan; Edited by Michael Perry
