Introduction The integration of host nation Liaison Officers (LNOs) into U.S. Security Cooperation Organizations (SCOs) serves to meet U.S. strategic and operational objectives. The concept of integrated deterrence, as outlined in the U.S. National Defense Strategy, stresses a holistic approach combined with our allies and partners to increase shared understanding, optimizing future investments. Integrating our partners into security cooperation allows both sides to better understand how our forces operate in peacetime and how we could operate together in times of crisis by providing cultural familiarity and mitigating unexpected risks. It also gives our partners a stake in security cooperation activities [ … ]

This article was adapted from a piece published on The Diplomat on February 23, 2024. Introduction Activities by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small, but strategically significant portion of its engagement with the region. The PRC has openly acknowledged its interest in engaging with the region on security matters in the 2008 and 2016 China-Latin America Policy White Papers, as well as in the 2022-2024 China-CELAC plan. That interest is also reflected in the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs white paper elaborating China’s Global Security [ … ]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper explores China’s public relations strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) through diplomacy, promoting study networks, cooperation among academies, and establishing a significant number of Confucius Institutes. This is supported by a vast network of print, audiovisual and digital media owned by China or LAC groups. Yet, among the LAC population, knowledge of China is minimal. In sectors dedicated to research, politics, and the economy and finance, there is a slightly favorable image of China due to economic interest. In the last decade, China has flooded the continent with exchange scholarships to attract and co-opt [ … ]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report explores China’s strategy to influence Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) populations through the Chinese and local media. Both are vital in shaping local opinion in favor of the Communist Party of China’s (CCP) ideological objectives. News outlets such as the Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Daily, China Radio International, China Central Television (CCTV), CGTN Spanish, and China Today are strategic and geopolitical tools that seek to replicate, amplify, and consolidate the authoritarian power of China’s President Xi Jinping. China tries to transmit a positive image through campaigns in all possible media, incorporating journalists, academics, LAC politicians, [ … ]