Within the new book by the U.S. Military Academy Modern Warfare Institute, “Expecting the Unexpected: Essays on Strategic Surprise in the 21st Century” comes a chapter from Dr. R. Evan Ellis: “Preparing for PRC Military Actions in Latin America in the Context of a War in the Indo-Pacific.”
“This work examines scenarios for military operations by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the Western Hemisphere, in the context of a major war with the PRC in the Indopacific. It focuses on PRC options for leveraging commercial activities and military relationships to interdict US deployment and sustainment flows through the Caribbean and Panama Canal and around the tip of South America, even without formal military alliances or basing agreements with governments in the region. It also explores risks for the PRC to use access to space from the Western Hemisphere to locate and target U.S. satellites and conduct offensive space operations against the U.S. homeland. In addition, it identifies the risks for the PRC to use access to bases in the Eastern Pacific, including the port of Chancay in Peru, to conduct naval operations against the U.S. and other targets. It concludes by analyzing possible appropriate U.S. responses to mitigate such risks and prepare for their effects, both alone and working with regional partners.”