The Chinese have been constructing roads, designing new embassies and building technology infrastructures from Argentina to Mexico. It has expanded its interests of Latin American oil, copper and iron and now wants to become a more equal trade and diplomatic partner.

Xi is ready to embrace Latin America as the Trump administration, carrying out its “America First” agenda, has pulled away from multilateral trade policies such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But after months, if not years, of withdrawal, the United States is now turning up the pressure and pushing Latin American leaders to choose between the United States and China.

“Do you want to work with us or them,” said Michael Shifter, who as president of the Inter-American Dialogue has deep ties with many leaders across Latin America. “‘We’re your preferred partner,’ they like to say.”

The diplomats are blunt. They would rather work with the United States, with whom they have a more established relationship and who has helped the region for decades on multitude of priorities, including the current Venezuela migration crisis as well as national security and counter narcotics.

But they say the United States is in retreat and US companies are simply not offering the kind of investment that the Chinese are offering. And, like US President Donald Trump, Latin American leaders face tight elections and constituencies who are eager to see tangible results like new roads, job growth and a growing GDP.be

US recalls diplomats after three Taipei allies in Latin America switch to Beijing

Two weeks ago, the Chinese government welcomed the Peruvian foreign minister with fanfare during a trade visit. Their discussions included more than 50 potential investments projects in Peru. On Monday, China signed an agreement with Costa Rica to encourage more investment and commerce.

In Panama, China is set to build a new embassy at the mouth of the Panama Canal where it’ll be seen by the hundreds of thousands of ships that pass through each year.

“There is no greater symbolic statement of disrespect to the United States-Panama relationship than a Chinese embassy sitting on a spit of land built literally by the earth excavated from the US-led building of the Panama Canal over 100 years ago,” said John Feeley, who served as the US ambassador to Panama until March.

Feeley said it’s important to note that the United States is not going to see Chinese war ships sailing into the Gulf of Mexico. IBut there are national security concerns, considering China is increasingly building telecommunications networks where the United States shares sensitive intelligence and security information.

“We shouldn’t be that alarmist,” Feeley said. “This is about commercial espionage and, in terms of diplomatic sway, what the Chinese are doing to consolidate their power in the United Nations and all other international organisations — precisely at a time the United States is walking away from them.”

Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s former ambassador to China, said there used to be unwritten rules between Mexico and other Latin American countries that they would not allow the Chinese to build their technology infrastructures. But he said Mexico and the rest of the region are listening to the Chinese in ways unlike before amid the US retreat on trade and Trump’s sometime negative rhetoric about the region.

“It doesn’t mean the US is out,” Guajardo said. “It’s just they’re facing competition that wasn’t there before the Trump administration. No Latin American country right now feels in any way encumbered or indebted to the United States with President Trump referring to the region the way we know he refers to the region.”

Early in his campaign, Trump said that Mexico was sending “criminals and rapists” across the border, and has lumped Haiti in with African countries he reportedly referred to with a vulgar term.

The Trump administration has been blunt with its partners in the region, warning that China seeks their “domination.” Senator Marco Rubi spoke to Trump about cutting aid to El Salvador and questioned why the United States would provide so much funding to a country after it took such diplomatic steps against US interests.

“Latin American diplomats are right that US disengagement in region has contributed to Chinese gains in the region. What they conveniently fail to mention is the role of hundreds of millions of $ in bribes & contributions to political parties from #China,” Rubio tweeted.

Leaders in Washington point to Africa and Asia as examples of regions that long enjoyed the appearance of endless financial assistance from China until it was time to pay back the loans. Sri Lanka, for example, wanted help with a billion-dollar port. Now, China owns the port.

Venezuela owes tens of billions in debt to China that senior administration officials say future generations of Venezuelans will be on the hook for long after the current government is gone.

“This is the most extreme form of colonialism,” said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak freely about US priorities. “China is literally taking assets of another country.”

On bilateral visits, China is now a key topic of conversation along with the crisis in Venezuela, immigration and counternarcotics, such as during Defence Secretary James Mattis’ recent weeklong, four-nation tour of South America — which notably made stops in Brazil and Argentina, two nations with a conspicuous Chinese presence.

The number of Chinese tourists and businessmen who shared the same Brasilia hotel reflected how China has become Brazil’s largest commercial partner. The topic of China’s US$50 million satellite and space mission station in Patagonia came up in talks with his Argentina counterpart. Mattis warned that foreign investments in the region could carry hidden national security dangers.

“There’s more than one way to lose your sovereignty,” Mattis said in remarks at Brazil’s Superior War College in Rio de Janeiro. It’s not just by bayonets. It can also be lost by economic domination. And that would be my concern.”