Reference News Network, January 11 report: The Hong Kong Asia Times website published an article titled "Trump's 'Tang Luo' Delusion" on January 8. The author is Leon Hadar. The main content is translated as follows:
U.S. President Trump has revived the Monroe Doctrine—now called "Tang Luo Doctrine"—once again confirming a major malady in Washington: the United States cannot adjust its strategic ambitions to match its real power in the 21st century.
Trump claims that "the American people will always control their own fate in this hemisphere," a stance fundamentally misjudges the economic and political changes that have reshaped Latin America over the past 30 years. We must face reality: it is a new imperialist vision, arguing that the United States must dominate the Western Hemisphere in political, economic, commercial, and military aspects. The problem is that no matter how many aircraft carriers are deployed or how high the tariffs are threatened, Washington can no longer possess such control.
The most telling evidence of the strategic absurdity of the "Tang Luo Doctrine" is the U.S. advocacy of expelling foreign companies that build infrastructure in Latin America. Latin America desperately needs infrastructure investment, but the United States has failed to provide equivalent resources or financing mechanisms. This is actually a strategic mistake wrapped in the nostalgic appearance of the Monroe Doctrine. Trying to return to the past by preventing countries outside the Western Hemisphere from investing is futile in an era of interdependence.
In the military aspect, the Trump administration's national security strategy calls for targeted military deployments and strikes against drug cartels and implies regime change in Venezuela. This is essentially intervention under the guise of border security and anti-drug operations.
Deeper still is the issue of legitimacy and whether consent can be obtained. Hegemony requires the cooperation of dependent countries, which need to benefit from such an arrangement. A dominant position maintained through military threats and economic coercion will breed resistance. Latin American countries have already diversified their international connections and benefited from global trade, investment, and financial cooperation; they will not give up this autonomy because of Washington's demands.
The ultimate paradox is that the "Tang Luo Doctrine," which claims to restore American strength, may accelerate America's decline in the Western Hemisphere. By viewing Latin American countries as targets rather than partners, demanding they take sides, and using military action as the first option rather than the last resort, the United States is prompting regional countries to adopt hedging measures and diversified strategies, which will weaken America's influence.
What Latin America needs—and what truly serves American interests—is not an old wine in a new bottle, i.e., 19th-century imperialism dressed up for the 21st century, but a pragmatic partnership based on economic cooperation, development assistance, and respect for sovereignty.
It is more accurate to say that the Monroe Doctrine is a myth rather than a strategically effective policy. "Tang Luo Doctrine" seems destined to prove that when a president's arrogance is intertwined with nostalgia for history, one gets not a good strategy, but overextension, backlash, and a gradual loss of the very influence it claims to restore. (Translated by Hu Guanghe)
Original source: toutiao.com/article/7594018597333221938/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author alone.