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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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China has expanded its presence in the Western Hemisphere, a region the United States designates as a national strategic focus, by carrying out its first naval visit to Uruguay.
The Chinese naval hospital ship CNS Silk Road Ark arrived on Tuesday at Uruguay's port of Montevideo in the South Atlantic. The scheduled four-day technical stop is part of the ship's medical service deployment, Harmony 2025, which began last September.
Newsweek has reached out to China's Foreign Ministry by email for further comment.
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Why It Matters
The Chinese naval deployment in Latin America comes as President Donald Trump has made U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere a foreign policy priority, with the national security strategy calling for limiting the presence of nations not in the region.
As the U.S. tightens its grip in the Western Hemisphere, China issued a policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean last December, saying the East Asian power and the region "oppose hegemonism" and their relationship is not subjugated by any third party.
What To Know
As part of its more than 370-vessel navy—the world's largest by hull count—China has three 10,000-ton hospital ships that provide medical care and have been regularly sent on Harmony missions across Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific since 2010.
China's Defense Ministry said that, during its stay in Uruguay, the Silk Road Ark, which called at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on its previous stop, would replenish supplies for the Harmony mission and conduct activities such as a friendly football match and visits.
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This was second time the Chinese ship made a technical stop during its mission since last November, when it reached Nicaragua's Port of Corinto and remained for five days.
When the Silk Road Ark departed China for its 220-day mission, Xinhua News Agency reported that the ship was set to visit "around a dozen nations" in the South Pacific and Latin America. However, neither Nicaragua nor Uruguay was named in the report.
Following its visit to Brazil, the Chinese naval hospital ship was expected to provide medical services in Peru and Chile—both on the Pacific coast of South America—before transiting across the ocean and heading to Papua New Guinea as its final stop.
The vessel has also yet to reach Mexico, which Xinhua News Agency listed as a stop between Tonga in the Pacific and Jamaica in the Caribbean. It remains unclear whether the ship will visit Mexico as planned, which would bring it closer to the U.S. mainland.
Uruguay is one of China's close partners in Latin America as the two countries have formed a comprehensive strategic partnership. Uruguay has also joined China's Belt and Road Initiative for economic cooperation, with Beijing as its top trading partner.
During a meeting with China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang last November, Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi said he is prepared to deepen coordination with China to support what he called a free and open international trading system and multilateralism.
What People Are Saying
China's Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean read: "China will actively carry out military exchanges and cooperation with [Latin America and the Caribbean] countries, expand friendly exchanges between defense and military leading officials of the two sides, strengthen policy dialogue and set up working meeting mechanisms."
The U.S. National Security Strategy read: "After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere…We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere."
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether the Silk Road Ark will make additional, previously unannounced stops in Latin America before embarking on a return trip to China.
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