A leading Republican China hawk is calling on the Biden administration to oppose the candidacy of a Beijing-friendly candidate to lead the Inter-American Development Bank amid the Chinese government’s efforts to increase its influence in Latin America.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) penned a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to oppose the potential election of former United Nations official Alicia Barcena to IDB’s presidency, warning that “her election would threaten U.S. economic and strategic interests in the region by emboldening anti-American dictators while hindering IDB’s core development mission.”
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1667492898694,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed8c-d9d9-a9ec-ffac26f80002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1667492898694,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed8c-d9d9-a9ec-ffac26f80002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_66024215", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1119467"} }); ","_id":"00000184-3e52-da74-a1bd-3ed25ca80000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
Barcena has long praised the Chinese government, including its Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America, in addition to lauding Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro when they died.
BIDEN PENTAGON OFFICIAL JOINS CHINESE TIKTOK TEAM
“Allowing a pro-CCP, pro-Castro, pro-Chavez official to assume the IDB Presidency would be dangerous and misguided,” Gallagher told the Biden administration officials. “I urge you to oppose Ambassador Barcena’s candidacy for the IDB and to take the necessary diplomatic steps to ensure our allies and partners in the Bank do so as well when the IDB elects its president later this month.”
Barcena, who worked as the executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean from 2008 until early this year, has been nominated by Mexico to lead the IDB, which describes itself as “the main source of financing for sustainable, social, economic and institutional development” in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly used its influence at the IDB to help finance its corrupt, poorly managed projects across Latin America that spread its techno-authoritarian norms and promote its influence,” Gallagher told the Washington Examiner. “This is a serious threat that undermines U.S. interests and the core development mission of the bank.”
Gallagher added: “The next President of the IDB must be committed to reducing corruption, reforming its governance structure, and rooting out CCP influence within the institution. Ambassador Barcena’s past comments show she is not just incapable of doing so, but even committed to giving the CCP an even larger seat at the table.”
During her years leading ECLAC, Barcena repeatedly praised and encouraged the Belt and Road Initiative, a global Chinese effort that the State Department says has helped Beijing with “edging out other world powers from international development partnerships and economic cooperation, securing intelligence, and amassing political, military, and economic leverage over participating countries” through debt traps.
“When Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, some in our region thought that it would be hard to participate in it, owing to our territorial, cultural and linguistic gaps. But China has reiterated — with great determination — the importance of including our region,” Barcena said in 2018. “We maintain an unshakable commitment to strengthening ties between our region and China in all dimensions.”
She quoted Xi’s comments from 2017 when he opened the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation: “Civilization thrives with openness and nations prosper through exchange.”
Alicia Barcenas
Barcena concluded her speech by saying that “today, as China enters a New Era, we need a strategic partnership of mutual trust in order to build an ecological civilization and … the cooperation plan is timely and the time is ripe for a new era of cooperation.”
This is a theme she has returned to over the years.
During a 2019 visit to Beijing as a “special guest” to the Belt and Road Advisory Council, Barcena told China Daily, a publication owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, that “we reacted very positively” to the initiative “and as a matter of fact, we are dedicated to publicize the features of this big project of the Belt and Road.”
Barcena told Chinese state-owned Xinhua in 2020 that “collaboration with China can help a lot” and that China’s efforts to fight poverty are “an inspiring strategy.”
In his letter, Gallagher told Blinken and Yellen that “of particular concern is China’s growing influence in Latin America and the IDB.” The congressman argued that “the IDB should be a force for economic development and democracy, not CCP influence.” He wrote: “I am prepared to look at legislation next Congress that would condition U.S. support for the IDB on certain governance reforms, including allowing Taiwan to become a member” and that “given her track record, Ambassador Barcena is uniquely ill-suited to carrying out these critical reforms.”
The Republican said China “has used its growing economic leverage to engage in nefarious practices” and “has pressured nations in the region to abandon Taiwan.”
China has greatly increased its trade in Latin America in recent years, with Reuters finding that total trade flows (imports and exports) between Latin America (excluding Mexico) and China hit close to $247 billion in 2021, as compared to $174 billion with the United States. China’s trade value excluding Mexico back in 2015 was roughly $175 billion, while the U.S. trade value excluding Mexico that year was around $194 billion.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Gallagher’s letter to Blinken and Yellen also highlighted Barcena’s praise of dictators in the region.
Barcena expressed “profound sadness” at the 2013 death of Venezuela’s Chavez, saying: “The landscape of the Americas has changed since he burst onto the scene, and the Americas are better because of him. Chavez showed that when the desire for just change is not an expression of personal ambition but rather is the synthesis of the aspirations of the majority of the people, then it is unstoppable.”
When Cuba’s Castro died in 2016, Barcena said, “The fertile life of a giant has been extinguished. Fraternal hug to Raúl Castro and the Cuban people.” She also included the left-wing revolutionary rallying cry: “Hasta la Victoria siempre, Comandante!”
Barcena also praised Cuba’s leadership of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020, saying the communist country “has exercised a great presidency, with leadership, commitment, and conviction” and “has been exceptional and excellent.”
