Jonathan Davis | Contributing Writer

The Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University hosted the first-annual Africa-Americas Forum on China, one of the largest hosted at FIU this year. 

Held over two days and co-sponsored by the Social Science Research Council, United States Institute of Peace, FLACSO Argentina, Witwatersrand University, and the Atlantic Council Global China Hub, this conference presented several pioneering approaches to Chinese geopolitical conflicts of the modern era.

The conference began by highlighting developmental factors for nations across the Global South, a group of the world historically stereotyped for their low-income inhabitants, dense population, underdeveloped infrastructure, and often both the disempowerment of average citizens, defined by political corruption. These include developing countries ranging from Eritrea on the horn of Africa, to Nicaragua on the Central American isthmus. 

Hannah Wanjie Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined, noted that “Nations across the Global South need to be advised on how to enter into trade with China, while Chinese companies must invest in developing countries with economic viability.” 

These countries in the Global South, which rely heavily on Western nations as their sources of imports and exports, are increasingly seeking socio-economic independence from the United States and China as global contention for trade increases in crucial industries worldwide. 

An estimated 500,000 Africans live in China seeking economic opportunity, and Sino-African trade between the regions amassed 192 billion in 2019, the highest recorded number in history. 

Similar statistics attribute the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the dire need for financial and structural independence from Chinese world powers becomes greater.

Countries across Central America and the Caribbean Islands are bolstering new connections across and economic alliances with nations in Africa. Relationships between Africa and Latin America maximize mercantile profit while also achieving political stability and minimizing the weakening of their nation on a global scale.

In 2013, the Chinese government launched the Belt and Road Initiative, a worldwide infrastructure development strategy which aimed to invest in more than 150 nations and international organizations. The focal point of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy, this initiative urges China to assume a position of world power regarding international events in light of the rapid growth of both its population and economy. 

As of 2023, 155 out of 193 member states of the United Nations have joined the BRI, encompassing the majority of the world’s GDP and 75% of the global population. Among the infrastructure projects aimed to fuel world development by the Belt and Road Initiative are ports, skyscrapers, railroads, highways, bridges, airports, dams, coal-fired power plants, and railroad tunnels.

Leland Lazarus, Associate Director of the Gordon Institute, the conference’s host, related the Chinese initiative to the 1948 Marshall Plan, in which the United States invested in a recovering and economically scarred Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. 

“Policy Makers in Washington will say the US has resources already invested in the developing world,” Lazarus said. “These include the American Partnership for Economic Prosperity, the Global Gateway, a 45 billion renewable energy investment, and the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.”

“But China is still dominating- hence over six billion people on earth under the [Belt and Road Initiative.] The fact of the matter is America, along with other world powers, needs to identify foreign opportunities for investment to control the rapid Chinese economic growth,” he said.

The Africa-Americas Forum suggested solutions on how developing and economically dependent nations experience self-sufficient growth among dominant world powers such as China. They also identified the risk of a world power becoming too large. 

Trade and Investment, Security Media and Cultural Exchanges, Technology, and Cybersecurity were the four main presentation categories at the forum, each involving innovative speakers from around the world aimed to satisfy the general international welfare.

A heavily discussed topic in the forum was economic security concerning the private sector – an international issue relating to financing and development, a profit-based network of financial investment opportunities. 

“Institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and The US International Development Finance Corporation all just need an incentive to make profit, and allocating their resources abroad may help underdeveloped countries develop mutualistic relationships with the United States,” said Willy Garcia, an attendee of the conference and private sector researcher.

To achieve fair economic prosperity for all participating nations after stabilization, organizations in the private sector like the IDB can find international equivalents in the region to sustain growth.

However, some members disagreed with the strategy of large financial institutions within the private sector. Oswaldo Rosales, a geo-economical specialist, took a humanitarian approach to the Sino-Latin geopolitical conflict.

“The IDB and Western World Banks should change their profit-based focus and become proactive in the (Central American) region,” “What offer does the US have for Latin-American countries?” Rosales said.

“These nations need their economy to advance, investments in infrastructure, reduction of poverty and inequality, the production of quality jobs and high standards of living, and a clean energy and digital transition.”

“For either good or bad reasons, China is offering financial help,” he continued. “The United States is not. The United States must provide a strong and substantial alternative to avoid a global Chinese economic takeover.”

Victoria Chonn-Ching, a political economist focusing on China and Latin America, expresses concern about the American approach to China. 

She suggests, “Instead of saying ‘How can we contain China?’, we should say, ‘How can we help and provide support to build governance and independence?’”

Chonn-Ching urges America to help these nations, especially their suffering populations, and to use the historical American strengths of resilience and innovation to provide aid to developing countries.

The AAF also featured a section on speaker presentations, including a brand new Security Research Hub Dashboard on Chinese Companies by Leland Lazarus, and a presentation from Yanqiu Zheng, a representative of the Social Science Research Council, on programming China and the Global South.