As the U.S. sends hospital ships and doctors to aid refugees from Venezuela, SecDef Mattis and outgoing Admiral Kurt Tidd has warned of China and Russia’s different response in the hemisphere. Tidd emphasized that “China is doing everything in its power to entice nations in this hemisphere to put on a contracting belt and head down a one-way road that is primarily designed to support China’s rise” while Russia maintains support for the region’s most oppressive governments, including Venezuela. “While we deploy hospital ships to the region, watch them as they deploy nuclear capable, strategic bombers and fly around the Caribbean in a show of force. Our hemisphere has no need for such patently hollow demonstrations…neither Russia nor China genuinely have this region’s best interest at heart…Latin America and Caribbean states know that, in the long run, our connections to one another will always and inevitably bear the finest fruit.”
Source: Defense Officials Warn of China and Russia Tampering in Caribbean | Military.com
