Russian warships have been making port visits to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and 22 nations in the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility have signed on to China's Belt and Road Initiative, the commander of Southcom told attendees of the Aspen Security Forum.
Army Gen. Laura J. Richardson said the nations that have signed on to the Chinese initiative don't see the investments the U.S. has been making in their countries.
"All they see are the Chinese cranes," she said. "These projects are in the billions of dollars. … They are big-time projects."
Richardson said it would be OK with her if those investments were for doing good in the hemisphere. "But it makes me a little suspicious when it's in the critical infrastructure."
Critical infrastructure, she said, includes deep-water ports, cybersecurity, energy and space.
"I worry about the dual use nature of that. These are state-owned enterprises by a communist government. I worry about the flipping of that to a military application," Richardson said, referring to China.
Southcom's No. 1 teammate working in the various countries in the region are U.S. ambassadors, but some nations are without a U.S. ambassador because many have not been confirmed in a timely manner, she said.
"We have an absolute connective tissue with all of our U.S. ambassadors in the region."
Besides U.S. ambassadors, others that Southcom partners with to increase U.S. influence in the region include the Commerce Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, NASA, the Inter-American Development Bank, the American Chambers of Commerce, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and human rights and nongovernmental organizations, the general said.
"I really believe that economic security and national security go hand in hand here in this hemisphere, and we have got to work both of them together very, very quickly," she said.
Regarding the Russian port visits, Richardson said U.S. vessels have been shadowing those vessels to ensure the safety and security of the United States.
Also, the Russians continue to make high-level government visits to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua with their foreign affairs minister and the head of the Russian legislative body, she said, adding that the U.S. could be doing more in its own government exchanges.