Since mid-October, thousands of Central Americans, mostly from Honduras, have traveled north through Mexico in a caravan, some walking much of the long trek. President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the migrants, sending troops to reinforce the border and attempting a procedural change, so far denied by the courts, to require asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are heard. Frustrated and exhausted after weeks of uncertainty, many migrants have become desperate since getting stuck in squalid camps in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
So a number opted to eschew legal procedures and attempt an illegal entry from Tijuana as dusk fell on Monday at a spot about 1, feet meters from the Pacific Ocean.
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In less than an hour, Reuters reporters observed roughly two dozen people climb the approximately foot 3-meter fence made of thick sheets and pillars of metal. They chose a place in a large overgrown ditch where the fence is slightly lower. Just before dusk, three thin people squeezed through the fence on the beach and were quickly picked up by the U. Border Patrol, witnesses said. But along the border inland as darkness descended, more and more migrants followed, many bringing children. The sight of them climbing the fence encouraged others, even as a helicopter patrolled overhead on the U.
With a continued troop presence in Afghanistan and Syria, a looming conflict with Iran, and even talk of an intervention in Venezuela, Trump is keeping the U. This is good news for Beijing, whose own foreign policy could not be more different. Rather than embracing a reactive and short-sighted approach that all too often ignores second- and third-order consequences, the Chinese strategy appears cautious and long-ranging.
Its policymakers and technocrats think and plan in terms of decades, not months. And those plans, for now, are focused more on building than bombing. China is playing the long game while Washington expends resources and global political capital on wars it cannot win. China has not engaged in a foreign war since it invaded Vietnam in , a war which lasted less than a month and in which the Chinese overreached and underperformed, suffering an estimated tens of thousands of casualties in 27 days. After heavy fighting against the battle-hardened Vietnamese, Chinese forces withdrew, cut their losses, and declared victory as did the Vietnamese.
As a result of this relentless effort, they have accomplished in 39 years what even the most daring and optimistic China expert would have thought impossible. The government has lifted million of its citizens out of poverty and has set the country on a trajectory that, if maintained, will see its economy overtake the U. Backstopped by its trade surplus and foreign currency reserves, China has been on a building spree for decades.
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The country has invested massively in its infrastructure and while billions have been lost to waste and corruption, the investments will pay dividends for decades to come. By , China is expected to overtake the U. Nor does that total take into account the trillions of dollars in interest payments—much of which will be paid to Chinese creditors—that will be required to service the debt.
While the Chinese have lavished money on infrastructure projects, they have been relatively abstemious with defense spending. While modernizing its military is critical for Beijing, it has taken a measured approach to defense spending. Power projection beyond what it regards as its sphere of influence, largely the South and East China Seas, has ranked as a low priority.
Tired of waiting for asylum, migrants from caravan breach U.S. border
This is evidenced by where it is spending money. It has an antiquated aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine, one indigenously built carrier undergoing sea trials, and two more under construction. But it is no match for the U. Navy—at least outside of its coastal waters.
China knows this, and as a consequence has built what it deems to be unsinkable, low-cost, permanent aircraft carriers in the South China Sea in the form of artificial islands. Since , China has created 3, acres of new land on and around the reefs that make up the disputed Spratly Islands. The artificial islands on which China has built military installations allow it to project power in the South China Sea but not beyond.
So far China has shown limited interest in developing and funding bases abroad. In these and in many more countries, the Chinese are staking claims and, in essence, hoping to wait the U.
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We need them to come in because we have companies coming into our country, they need workers, but they have to come in on a merit basis, and they will come in on a merit basis," Trump said. The communities are often left to bear the cost and the influx of people that come in illegally, he said, adding that this can't be allowed.
The US, he said, has the largest and most expansive immigration programmes anywhere on the planet. But we will not allow our generosity to be abused by those who would break our laws, defy our rules, violate our borders, break into our country illegally. We won't allow it," he added.
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