AMERICA SEEKING TO UNDERMINE PARAGUAY-CHINA RELATIONS

Written by Michael Thervil

President  Santiago Peña of Paraguay at the United Nations Photographer unknown

[AMERICA SEEKING TO UNDERMINE PARAGUAY-CHINA RELATIONS] Is America looking to score big with Paraguay because of the opportunity it seems in conducting business with the South American country? Or is America seeking to strategically conduct business with Paraguay as a necessary move to counter China in South America. Even the geopolitically blind can see and know that America doesn’t do anything based on the notions of altruism. According to reports there were two reasons that America gave for wanting to exercise its curiosity in Paraguay. The first reason America was to broker a deal in which they could partner with Paraguay and utilize their surplus energy generated from the Itaipu Dam to power artificial intelligence and the data centers that they have in the region.

The second reason that was cited by the Americans was that they would play a role in combating terrorism in the region. However, despite the Americans pitching the idea of countering terrorism in the region, there simply hasn't been any reports of any acts of terrorism being executed even though Paraguay has a high number of Muslims and Arabs living in the region. The pretext of wanting to form a partnership with both Paraguay and ultimately Brazil because they each own 50% of the Itaipu Dam to bum energy off these countries sounds good. Even America is sweetening the deal with the promise to aid in combating terrorism also sounds like a great idea.

But the truth of the matter is America is simply looking to undermine China's presence in South America. Whereas China seeks to bring in and/or build infrastructure projects with “Developing countries”, America seeks to entrap countries through the weaponization of arms sales. Despite the slight degree of friction between Paraguay and China over Paraguay’s recognition of Taiwan as a separate entity from China – China is still willing to do business with Paraguay to advance it’s global BRI Initiative. Remember China is in the business of business, and with international business between states comes political influence.

Just how far will America go to undermine China in Paraguay? Currently the answer is unknown considering all the domestic and international fires America must put out at the moment.