The growing U.S.-Chinese rivalry and foreign policy initiatives of the Biden administration in Latin Caribbean America

Contemporary international relations are characterized by increasing interstate rivalry, which is especially pronounced at the level of regional subsystems. Latin Caribbean America (LCA) serves a vivid example, becoming the arena of competition (including in ideological terms) between the United States, which has traditionally considered the region its sphere of influence, and China, which is actively forging cooperation with the LCA countries in various fields. The purpose of this article is to identify and assess the role of the ideological component in the policy of the J. Biden administration towards the LCA countries against the background of the growing U.S.-Chinese rivalry in the region. The first section of the article defines the place of LCA in the foreign policy strategy of the current administration in the context of the Democrats’ rhetoric about the struggle over the ‘free world’ challenged by the authoritarian regimes, in particular by the PRC. The second section analyzes the main forms and directions of the PRC’s policy aimed at strengthening its presence in LCA. The author notes that the American authorities assess these PRC activities extremely negatively, as undermining the foundations of the U.S. leadership in the region. As a result, a new bipartisan consensus is emerging on the need to take urgent measures to counter the growing influence of China. The third section examines the key initiatives of the J. Biden administration aimed at strengthening the U.S. positions in the LCA countries. The author concludes that the steps taken by the 46th President of the United States in the Latin American direction have strong ideological overtones. They actually force the LCA countries to take sides in the U.S.-Chinese confrontation, which in turn leads to further polarization of the region in the spirit of a new Cold War.

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