This editorial by La Jornada’s editorial board originally appeared in the December 14, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those ofMexico Solidarity Media*, or theMexico Solidarity Project.*
The Xi Jinping government presented an updated version of China’s Policy Document on Latin America and the Caribbean, outlining cooperation in more than 40 areas grouped into five programs: solidarity, development, civilizations, peace, and peoples. This new version of the comprehensive plan, first published in 2008 and revised in 2016, is notable for its broad scope and fraternal spirit, emphasizing their shared belonging to the Global South and referring to China and Latin American and Caribbean countries as a community with a shared future—a concept Beijing also applies to all of humanity.
Among the many areas in which China says it is willing to collaborate or strengthen existing ties are openness to technology transfer, scientific and technological training, combating climate change, energy—both fossil and renewable—Latin American integration, “accelerating the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the use of local currencies (not explicitly stated, but understood to be in place of the dollar), and support for the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a Zone of Peace. Also noteworthy is its willingness to “adequately address trade frictions for healthy and balanced development and structural diversification of trade,” a major concern for some countries that fear being overwhelmed by China’s production capacity.
The document presents an obvious and unavoidable contrast with the statements of US President Donald Trump, Washington’s interventionist policy throughout the region, and the recently released White House National Security Strategy. Thus, while Trumpism has decided to deny “non-hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, to seize or strategically control vital assets in our hemisphere,” disregarding Latin America and the Caribbean’s autonomy to engage with any state or non-state actors it chooses and to determine the use of its natural resources, Beijing reaffirms that “China-Latin America relations are not directed against, do not exclude, and are not conditioned by any third party.” While the White House announces the application of the Monroe Doctrine “to restore US preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” and protect “our access to its territories,” the Asian giant refers to Latin America and the Caribbean as “a region with a glorious tradition of independence and self-strengthening through unity.”
But the United States is not the only country that falls short in this comparison. Since the outbreak of NATO’s war against Russia on Ukrainian soil, Europe has been abandoning all the pillars upon which it based its claim to be a beacon of civilization and a bastion of the rule of law: to sustain the war effort and benefit its corporations, it has rendered its environmental and fiscal commitments meaningless, while simultaneously deploying a dangerous arms buildup and fueling a rhetoric of perpetual war. Under the pretext of appeasing the far right, traditional conservatives have embraced its xenophobic agendas, and their active complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people has stripped them of the last vestige of moral authority they could cling to.
In this context, China emerges as a trading partner that proposes to cooperate without interfering in the internal politics of its counterparts and that possesses the technological and financial capabilities to contribute to the region’s sustainable development. As the document itself points out, these ties must be adapted to the realities and needs of each country, but without a doubt, the leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean must consider them as a tool for simultaneously strengthening sovereignty and well-being.
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