Uruguay hopes China will build and finance a deep-sea port on the Atlantic
Uruguay’s long standing dream of building a deep-water port in the east of the country could become a reality in coming days when China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visits the country, according to the government financed newspaper La Republica.
The newspaper states that Wen Jibao will be Latin America for two major events, the G20 summit in Mexico next week and later for the Rio+20 gathering in Brazil, June 20/22. Some time then the Chinese leader is scheduled to visit Uruguay.
“It’s the first trip to Uruguay of such a high ranked official and all indicates the documents will be signed for the assessment of the project and later construction of the deep-sea port” to the east of the country, close to the Brazilian border says the daily quoting Uruguayan reliable sources. Allegedly China’s development bank would support the financing of the project.
A deep water port for Uruguay on the Atlantic coast is a project with over a century originally planned by then President Jose Batlle y Ordoñez elected twice (1903/1907 and 1911/1915) and considered the great economic and social reformer of the country.
The idea resurfaced half a century ago in the fifties and sixties, given the growing problems of access to the River Plate and disputes with neighbouring Argentina, but lack of financing froze the plan.
The River Plate ports of Montevideo and Buenos Aires need constant dredging in their access canals which makes them costly, and Argentina has always tried to downplay Uruguayan competition in port services.
Currently there is a frustrating dispute with Argentina over the dredging of a second canal (Martin Garcia) which leads directly to the Uruguayan port of Nueva Palmira that has become the main grains, oil seeds, pulp and minerals terminal given its closeness to the main agriculture area of the country.
The River Plate is jointly administered and Argentina has always privileged the Mitre canal which leads directly to Buenos Aires. Since the time of the Spanish colonial empire, Buenos Aires and Montevideo have been involved in what is known as the “ports’ rivalry”. Buenos Aires was capital of the River Plate viceroyalty and Montevideo, with easier access and further east and south, seat of the Spanish naval base with control over all the South Atlantic islands.
According to Uruguayan sources allegedly Brazil could also be interested in a deep waters port next to its border to help with the export of some of its commodities from the rich state of Rio Grande do Sul, although Uruguay’s northern neighbour is already building a major cargo and oil terminal in Rio Grande, from where it plans to control the southern end of all of its hydrocarbons activities.
However it has yet to be seen what Brazil’s reaction could be if finally an out-of-the-region, and none less than China disputing world predominance, ends up constructing and financing a major deep sea port in the South Atlantic, an area to which Brazilian strategists refer as the “blue Amazon” and with direct access to the Parana, Paraguay and Uruguay basin in the heartland of South America.
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As we know, the Falkland Islands is key to just about all geo-political strategy in the South Atlantic and China has been reading the historical lesson closely. Example of such a lesson that China gleaned from the Falkland Islands war: “Geography compelled the extra-regional power to stage military operations across thousands of miles of ocean, where the local power enjoyed such advantages as proximity to the combat theater, abundant manpower and resources, and intimate familiarity with the surroundings.”
- the-diplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2012/02/21/china%E2%80%99s-falkland-islands-lesson/
Just be careful, though.
lf you stop stroking the tiger under its chin, it will eat you.
Given the current tensions any port in Argentina would be a legitimate target.
China has been building these deep-sea ports all around Asia, purportedly to encircle India.
What I don’t get is how does building infrastructure in a foreign country improve your strategic reach, unless you fill it with military hardware.
When the US builds a base in Uzbekistan (or the like) they fill it with military personnel, aircraft and electronics which gives them a logistical platform and allows them to eavesdrop/intercept and so on. Clearly a strategic advantage.
But these Chinese ports would seem only to facilitate trade.
Am I missing something or do they harbour (get it?) other intent.
With commercial and trade secrets being a highly sought-after currency, many Canadians are in little doubt that China spends a lot of time and has many spys dedicated to bringing commercially-valuable technology back to the their state-run companies. The Chinese spy net in Canada extends through businesses and universities mostly.
Security secrets important too but their “harvesters” work in a much more limited network. In Canada, Chinese security spys are controlled by the PRC Embassy and consulates. Recent case in Canada of a PRC honey-trap women who fronted as a Chinese news reporter getting involved with Canadian MP. Woman's disgruntled husband actually broke the news!
Estimates of Chinese PRC spies (commercial + security) are about 1,000 in Canada. Some think the emerging target for Chinese PRC spying is Latin America (link below).
Since a mega-port development is the key linch-pin of so much industry and enterprise, it would be a prize for building a long-term commercial spy network, as well as having some security spying benefits too. A port becomes a hub in a network stretching way back into the connecting countries such as Brazil.
Reference links:
Chinese spys in Canada:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_intelligence_activity_abroad#Canada
Chines spys in Latin America:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_intelligence_activity_abroad#Latin_America
There is a certain logic to that, but I would be inclined to think that it is just China securing a big construction contact for a Chinese company.
I am always slightly suspicious of the claims by one’s intelligence services about the activities of others’ intelligence services. They kind of have to big up the enemy.
I did a post grad at a British university and I was surprised by the quantity of Chinese phd and post doc students. The reason the Chinese govt pays for them to study is so they take their acquired knowhow back home. A very smart way to rapidly close the knowledge gap. They study so hard I doubt they have any time for any covert operations. Besides it is hard for a foreign student to get close to a sensitive project because of vetting procedures.
I did notice that in the evening, under cover of darkness they would creep around campus collecting wind-fall apples. When I enquired what for, they told me it was for making apple jelly and preserves. Hum.
When MI5, the first modern intelligence service, was formed in 1909, its sole purpose was to round up 1000s of German spies suspected of operating in the UK. The idea that the UK had be infiltrated came from a popular novel at the time and was based on nothing else more concrete. During the pre-war period MI5 managed to round up 6 German spies. Subsequent research has shown that in fact there were only about 6 German spies in the UK at the time.
the case may well be,
your port today,
our base tomorrow.
of the like .
Thanks - I shouldn't dwell on the Chinese-as-spies notion. I agree that its a slim chance, and if the new port is in Uruguay, that might be a plus for re-flagged Falklands Islands shipping.
That apart it is a fantastic opportunity for Uruguay and will further help to commercially distance the country from our despicable neighbours to the south.
It might even help with reducing the fiscal drag of all the government employees who have a strangle hold of 'no-service' over everyday living and hold the country back so much.
Presently, all port employees are government 'workers' but I hope and suspect that this will not be so if China have anything to do with it.
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