At first glance, the picture China's ambassador to Barbados tweeted on July 23 shows nothing more than an online meeting — a typical, screen-based representation of what life has become during the pandemic.
The digital get-together was to announce that Beijing had agreed to give a $1 billion loan to Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to help them secure an eventual Covid-19 vaccine developed by China.
Like most online meetings, and any photos of them, this one was largely dull.
But let's make it more interesting. Look at the photo again. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi looms large in the center of the screen. He's surrounded by about a dozen foreign ministers from LAC countries. They're all there, in part, to thank China for coming to their aid.
If you believe that China has ambitions to be a regional and global power, the photo is downright allegorical. China as the sun, other countries orbiting around it, guided by the gravitational pull of the Middle Kingdom's economic and political might, a force never more apparent than during a global pandemic
It's a hyperbolic hot take based on a simple photo, I know.
But for many observers of the region, amid a retreat by the United States from its global leadership role and a virus wreaking havoc on lives and incomes, a black-and-white narrative of an ascendant China becoming the dominant force in Latin America and the Caribbean has become commonplace.
The question is: Are they right? The answer isn't so simple.
Winning hearts, minds and wallets
China has played a major role in this region since the pandemic first arrived here in force in late March. As the virus swept through country after country, China took action.
It donated at least 150,000 masks and a number of hazmat suits to Brazil, donated dozens of ventilators, monitors, defibrillators and ultrasound scanners to Peru and donated at least 10 ventilators, 50,000 testing kits and 100,000 medical masks to Argentina. Separately, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's foundation donated 100,000 masks, 50,000 testing kits and five ventilators to Mexico.
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