China's influence in C.America advances at a gallop
China's growing influence across Central America.
With the Chinese ambassador at his side, Bukele toured the seven-story building, erected at a cost of $54 million paid for by China.
The building sprawls over 24,000 square meters (260,000 square feet), and contains gamer and robotics areas, interactive digital screens and both a digital library and shelves containing 360,000 books, the government said on Tuesday.
A day later, the son of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Laureano Ortega, inspected 250 Chinese-made buses and thanked Beijing for the «special relationship» he asserted was lifting the nation out of poverty.
«The new politics of the region has accelerated China's influence and put distance between the United States and Central America, from the leftist authoritarian Ortega regime to the right-wing authoritarian Bukele regime,» Evan Ellis, a researcher at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, told AFP.
Since Costa Rica switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 2007, China has steadily gained ground in Central America, establishing relations with Panama (2017), El Salvador (2018), Nicaragua (2021) and most recently Honduras earlier this year.
«China's efforts in Central America have mostly been driven by an interest in isolating Taiwan,» Margaret Myers, a specialist in China and Latin America at the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP.
In Central America, only Guatemala and Belize are among the dwindling 13 nations that still maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers part of its territory.
