I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8716 
To strengthen the United States ties with Latin American and Caribbean 
countries through diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation, to 
counter efforts by the People’s Republic of China to undermine United 
States interests and values in the Americas, and to promote economic 
development and competitiveness in the Latin America and Caribbean 
region. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 30, 2020 
Mr. SIRES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To strengthen the United States ties with Latin American 
and Caribbean countries through diplomatic, economic, 
and security cooperation, to counter efforts by the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China to undermine United States in-
terests and values in the Americas, and to promote eco-
nomic development and competitiveness in the Latin 
America and Caribbean region. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Advancing Competitiveness, Transparency, and Security 
in the Americas Act of 2020’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. 
Sec. 4. Statement of policy. 
Sec. 5. Definitions. 
Sec. 6. Assessing the intentions of the People’s Republic of China in the West-
ern Hemisphere. 
TITLE I—INCREASING COMPETITIVENESS IN LATIN AMERICA 
AND THE CARIBBEAN 
Sec. 101. Developing and implementing a strategy to increase economic com-
petitiveness and promote the rule of law. 
Sec. 102. Strengthening United States International Development Finance Cor-
poration engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean. 
Sec. 103. Advancing regulation of foreign investment in infrastructure projects 
to protect host countries’ national interests. 
Sec. 104. Strengthening infrastructure project selection and procurement proc-
esses. 
Sec. 105. Promoting the rule of law in digital governance. 
Sec. 106. Investing in projects that strengthen the region’s digital infrastruc-
ture. 
Sec. 107. Countering foreign corrupt practices in the Americas. 
Sec. 108. Countering malign business practices. 
Sec. 109. Promoting greater energy security. 
TITLE II—PROMOTING REGIONAL SECURITY AND DIGITAL 
SECURITY, AND PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AMERICAS 
Sec. 201. Ensuring the integrity of telecom and data networks and critical in-
frastructure. 
Sec. 202. Addressing the risks that pervasive surveillance and monitoring tech-
nologies pose to human rights. 
Sec. 203. Revitalizing bilateral and multilateral military education programs. 
TITLE III—ADVANCING THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN LATIN 
AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 
Sec. 301. Counteracting growing Chinese educational and cultural influence in 
Latin America and the Caribbean. 
Sec. 302. Advancing the role of civil society and the media to promote account-
ability. 
TITLE IV—RESOURCING FOR SUCCESS 
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Sec. 401. Appointment of China Engagement Officers at United States embas-
sies in the Western Hemisphere. 
Sec. 402. Assessing staffing needs at United States embassies in Latin America 
and the Caribbean. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The People’s Republic of China has dra-
matically increased engagement with Latin America 
and the Caribbean since 2004. Latin America is the 
second largest destination for Chinese foreign direct 
investment. China has become the top trading part-
ner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. China’s 
trade 
with 
Latin 
America 
has 
grown 
from 
$17,000,000,000 in 2002 to $306,000,000,000 in 
2018. 
(2) Between 2005 and 2018, the People’s Re-
public of China provided Latin America with an esti-
mated $141,000,000,000 in development loans and 
other assistance. The annual amount of such loans 
and assistance consistently surpasses the annual sov-
ereign lending to Latin America and the Caribbean 
from either the World Bank or the Inter-American 
Development Bank. 
(3) The People’s Republic of China— 
(A) is investing extensively across the re-
gion’s extractive sector and agricultural supply 
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chains to more effectively control raw materials 
supply and pricing; 
(B) has acquired and built new port facili-
ties and other transport and energy infrastruc-
ture in Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, El Sal-
vador, and elsewhere in the region to expand its 
footprint in Latin America; and 
(C) has developed strong partnerships and 
engaged in extensive deal-making in tele-
communications and other technology-intensive 
sectors in the Latin American and Caribbean 
region. 
(4) In 2015, the People’s Republic of China 
and countries of the Community of Latin American 
and Caribbean States (CELAC) held the first meet-
ing of the China-CELAC Ministerial Forum, at 
which they agreed to a 5-year cooperation plan re-
garding politics, security, trade, investment, finance, 
infrastructure, energy, resources, industry, agri-
culture, science, and people-to-people exchanges. 
China is also active in other regional institutions, in-
cluding multilateral development banks. 
(5) The United States Southern Command has 
warned that China’s space and telecommunications 
ventures in Latin America and the Caribbean have 
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created United States commercial and security 
vulnerabilities. 
(6) 
China 
has 
spent 
more 
than 
$244,000,000,000 on energy projects worldwide 
since 2000, 25 percent of which was spent in Latin 
America and the Caribbean. Although the majority 
of this spending was for oil, gas, and coal, China has 
also been the largest investor in clean energy glob-
ally for almost a decade. 
(7) China promotes the repressive use of tech-
nology— 
(A) by selling crowd control weapons and 
riot gear used against demonstrators; and 
(B) by developing tracking systems that 
can be used by governments to surveil and mon-
itor their citizens. 
(8) Although China did not originally include 
the Latin America and Caribbean region in its Belt 
and Road Initiative— 
(A) at a meeting with the Community of 
Latin American and Caribbean States in Janu-
ary 2018, China invited Latin America and the 
Caribbean to participate in the Belt and Road 
Initiative, referring to the region as a natural 
fit for a program that aims to improve 
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connectivity between land and sea through 
jointly built logistic, electricity and information 
pathways; and 
(B) Nineteen Latin American and Carib-
bean countries have signed bilateral Belt and 
Road Cooperation Agreements since 2017. 
(9) The People’s Republic of China offers to fi-
nance projects in Latin America and the Caribbean 
on deceptively easy terms that frequently lead recipi-
ent countries to become dependent on, and deeply 
indebted to, China. Chinese companies frequently 
engage in exploitative practices, including predatory 
lending, and project requirements that— 
(A) provide little or no benefit to the host 
country; and 
(B) facilitate corrupt practices. 
(10) The Government of China expects that 
Chinese companies will invest the equivalent of 
$250,000,000,000 in Latin America and the Carib-
bean by 2025. 
(11) Since 2017, China has used its increasing 
economic influence in Latin America and the Carib-
bean to encourage countries, including El Salvador, 
Panama, and the Dominican Republic, to sever dip-
lomatic relations with Taiwan. Of the 15 countries 
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that still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, 
9 are in Latin America and the Caribbean, namely: 
Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, 
Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. 
Vincent and the Grenadines. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the United States shares extensive economic 
and commercial relations, democratic values, cultural 
ties, and geographic proximity with the nations of 
the Western Hemisphere; 
(2) increased United States engagement with 
countries in the Western Hemisphere is essential to 
addressing initiatives by rival powers, such as China, 
to increase their presence and influence over govern-
ments in Latin American and the Caribbean at the 
expense of strategic economic and security interests 
of the United States; 
(3) the United States is uniquely positioned to 
promote the rule of law and support the strength-
ening of democratic institutions and individual free-
doms in Latin America and the Caribbean, while im-
proving the quality of life of citizens throughout the 
Western Hemisphere; 
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(4) China’s growing presence in the Western 
Hemisphere— 
(A) has contributed to the survival of auto-
cratic and anti-democratic regimes, such as the 
Maduro regime and the Government of Cuba, 
by acting as a lender of last resort and pro-
viding other forms of economic support; 
(B) has assisted such regimes in under-
mining democratic norms through weapons 
sales and the proliferation of surveillance tech-
nology; and 
(C) has provided governments with the re-
sources to implement irresponsible economic 
policies to the detriment of its citizens; and 
(5) the United States Government should con-
tinue to assert a positive presence in the Western 
Hemisphere based upon— 
(A) supporting the rule of law, combating 
corruption, and advancing digital security as a 
means to improve prospects for regional growth 
and development and mitigate the unfair advan-
tage accrued to those that engage in unfair and 
illegal practices; 
(B) facilitating technical assistance and 
knowledge-sharing programs that strengthen re-
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