SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Laura Richardson told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the “biggest eye-opener to me” since assuming the position has been “the extent to which China and Russia are aggressively expanding their influence in our neighborhood.”
Richardson, who assumed the role roughly five months ago, addressed the SASC on Thursday alongside Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of NORTHCOM. She described Russia as “the more immediate threat” in the region but noted that without “modest investment,” China’s influence in the region could “soon resemble the self-serving, predatory influence it now holds in Africa.”
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“The [People’s Republic of China], our long-term strategic competitor, continues its relentless march to expand economic, diplomatic, technological, informational, and military influence in Latin America and [the] Caribbean and challenges U.S. influence in all these domains,” she said.
Her testimony about Russia and China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere comes as the former invaded Ukraine a month ago, while the latter has been put in an uncomfortable position as its ally becomes an international pariah.
The Chinese and Russian leaders released a communique that outlined a wide range of plans for economic and diplomatic cooperation last month. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke at length last week, and the Chinese government’s readout contained no criticism of Russia but claimed, “China stands for peace and opposes war.” While they claim to promote “peace” between Russia and Ukraine, they have simultaneously been amplifying Russian disinformation claims of justification.
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Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has said that China provided the Russians with “at least tacit approval.”
Richardson, in her written testimony, also warned about transnational criminal organizations, which she said “operate nearly uncontested, and blaze a trail of corruption and violence that create conditions that allow the PRC and Russia to exploit, threaten citizen security, and undermine public confidence in government institutions.”
