China’s Belt and Road Initiative and U.S. Hegemonic Decline in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Through trade, investment, diplomacy and technology, China has transitioned from low-end manufacturing to a Global South leader with advanced capitalist characteristics. The US has chosen confrontation over multilateral engagement to make up for its declining power and hegemony. This article critically examines the US–China rivalry in LAC as a 21st century inter-imperialist rivalry, where China has effectively penetrated the US ‘backyard’ with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It demonstrates that the Trump administration and its predecessors have failed to halt US hegemonic decline. It argues that China is challenging US imperialism in LAC with the unique form of ‘social imperialism’ that is the BRI, with a focus on acquiring essential resources and building infrastructure that can facilitate China’s national research and development (R&D). The BRI in LAC is also a critical component of China’s global strategy to weaken US belligerence in the PRC’s own ‘backyard’- namely in the South China Sea and Chinese island of Taiwan.