The small seaside canton of La Libertad, distinguished by the aroma of fresh fish on its lengthy pier over the Pacific Ocean, has transformed into a tourist hub in the Central American country of El Salvador. The region, revered by the surfing community for its perfect wave conditions, has been embraced by the incumbent president’s efforts to revitalize the tourist industry of the nation. Salvadoran tourism has been hindered heavily by gang violence and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Surf City, as the new destination is called, is part of a series of projects contributing to the revitalization of the tourism industry– projects that are backed heavily by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as its efforts to strengthen its influence in Latin America ramp up.

In Latin America, the presence of China has become an ever-growing affair of matchmaking between the Asian superpower and some of the world’s developing nations. In the present Bukele-era of El Salvador, an era characterized by doubled-down civil protection policies and a crackdown on organized crime in the country, the amity of officials in Beijing has been welcomed with open arms. The PRC’s increasing influence over the smallest country in Central America follows the official severing of ties between the governments of Taipei and San Salvador in 2018. Free trade agreements between both governments ended in May of 2023. Beijing’s extended invitation to El Salvador for membership in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) adds to a series of memorandums totaling over $500 million in foreign investment dedicated to several projects across the country. Beyond its infrastructural investments, the Beijing government has even offered to pay all of El Salvador’s foreign debt as it seeks to avoid defaulting, according to Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa. As the PRC increases its foreign investment to fund projects across the country, skeptics cite their concerns over the implications of such initiatives.

As the PRC’s presence in Latin America increases, their increased footprint in the region proliferates worries of hegemony as Salvadorans consider the implications of investing large sums of capital in the nation at essentially no cost. In particular, concerns spread across the continent in the wake of the PRC’s investment in expanding a port in the department of La Union on El Salvador’s eastern coast. Washington continues to worry that the PRC will reserve the rights to utilize the port at La Union as an intelligence hub, disrupting a trade share in the region that is largely dominated by the United States. The United States continues to lobby against increased Chinese control in Latin America, countering the BRI with their implementation of the América Crece initiative: an effort to maintain, expand, and protect U.S. investment in Latin America, while China continues to double-down on a donation campaign of various infrastructural projects. As Desiree Reder, a researcher at the Hamburg-based German Institute for Global and Area Studies, mentioned in an article for Deutsche-Welle on the implications of China’s copious donations to the nation, one can only speculate the costs that the government in San Salvador will have to incur as a result of China’s donated investments to the nation. “The big question is whether the benefits of the relationship are greater than the costs,” explains Reder.

Contrary to the desires of the United States, the privatization of such infrastructure to Chinese investors has never appeared more enticing to San Salvador. The government recognizes that a close-knit relationship with China could provide a sense of security for a nation regaining its stability, both socially and economically. With talks of an open-trade agreement between Beijing and San Salvador ongoing, welcoming the PRC’s influence with open arms may help soothe a growing economic pain caused by the faltering cryptocurrency market amidst El Salvador’s ambitious crypto-experiment. Nevertheless, the PRC’s increasing influence remains a subject of increased anxiety for those in Washington.

The Bukele administration in San Salvador continues to progress through an impressive agenda of infrastructural developments across El Salvador, a growing political talking point as the nation approaches a presidential election in February of 2024: an election he intends to run in despite controversy over the legality of his campaign. Bukele hopes to defy the precedent set by the nation’s constitution, which limits the incumbent president to just one five-year term. The PRC’s influence in the region remains instrumental to the success of the Bukele campaign, which relies on Beijing’s support to make Bukele’s plans to transform El Salvador a reality. Bukele seeks to separate the image of El Salvador from the violent, underdeveloped nation it was previously, to a beacon of economic prosperity and success. The PRC has proved they are capable of helping El Salvador achieve this goal. So long as the Bukele-era persists, and continues to propagate throughout Latin America, the international community may find Beijing seated at the head of the Latin American table while the U.S. lingers on the outskirts.