{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-calls-for-countering-chinas-influence-in-western-hemisphere", "Curtis Calls for Countering China\u2019s Influence in Western Hemisphere", "2026-07-14", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "John R. Curtis", "C001114", "www.curtis.senate.gov", "curtis", "https://www.curtis.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "At the hearing, Curtis highlighted recent successes following Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s engagement with Panama, including Panama\u2019s decision to withdraw from China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative and the transfer of key Panama Canal port assets from Hong Kong-based operators to a U.S.-led consortium.\n\nHe also asked Ambassador Kozak how those developments could serve as a model for reducing China\u2019s influence elsewhere in the hemisphere. Kozak emphasized that many countries have become increasingly aware of the risks associated with China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative, including predatory lending practices and strategic investments that undermine national sovereignty.\n\nVideo of Senator Curtis\u2019 opening remarks and line of questioning can be found here, and a transcript of his opening remarks and initial questioning is below:\n\nOpening remarks, as prepared:\n\nThis hearing is to examine how the Trump Administration\u2019s National Security Strategy prioritizes the Western Hemisphere. In other words, what is the \u201cTrump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,\u201d as it has been termed.\n\nFor too long, American policy has treated our own neighborhood as an afterthought while our adversaries have treated it as an opportunity. The National Security Strategy makes a welcome correction by putting the Western Hemisphere near the center of American national security policy.\n\nIt is right that the United States should focus first on the safety, security, and prosperity of the American people, and frequently that means focusing on the security of our region. That means securing our border, stopping deadly drugs before they enter our communities, strengthening supply chains closer to home, and ensuring that hostile powers cannot control strategic assets in our own hemisphere.\n\nIn many ways, the real test of our Western Hemisphere strategy is whether it can blunt and roll back the presence of our global adversaries\u2014China, Russia, and Iran\u2014within our backyard. China has spent years building influence through ports, telecommunications, infrastructure, natural resources, surveillance technology, and diplomatic pressure.\n\nRussia has used Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua to project influence and challenge U.S. interests from within the hemisphere. Iran and its proxies have also sought footholds through malign networks and anti-American regimes\u2014which is why the Committee has passed my bills, the No Hezbollah In Our Hemisphere Act and BANNED in Latin America Act, which push back on these networks. The National Security Strategy is right to say that non-hemispheric competitors should not be allowed to position forces, threatening capabilities, or control strategically vital assets in our hemisphere.\n\nThe Maduro raid was exactly this principle put into practice. Nicolas Maduro\u2019s regime had been a platform for Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and criminal influence in our hemisphere. His regime destabilized neighbors, fueled migration, enriched corrupt networks, cooperated with malign outside powers, and allowed drug trafficking and other illicit activity to flourish.\n\nWe were not going to let what amounted to an illegitimate Russian puppet government corruptly cling to power and operate within our backyard. And now Maduro resides in a prison in New York. And now, we are beginning to see early signs of change inside Venezuela. Hundreds of political prisoners have been released, opposition figures are able to organize more openly, Venezuelan oil is no longer being exclusively used to support China, and there are signs of shifts within the governing structure, including the removal of some Maduro loyalists. Venezuela today is thankfully in a much different place than it was a year ago.\n\nHowever, Congress is going to be interested in what the path now looks like for Venezuela from here to a democratic transition.\n\nProgress has been made throughout the region on the diplomatic front as well. After Secretary Rubio\u2019s visit, Panama announced that it would move to leave China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative. We also saw the announced sale of port assets operated by Hong Kong-based entities at both ends of the Panama Canal to a U.S.-led consortium.\n\nThose developments should be seen as examples of the kind of strategic competition the United States can win when we are focused, engaged, and willing to use diplomatic and commercial tools together. We should encourage more countries in the region to take similar steps.\n\nI am broadly supportive of this renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere and the recognition that what happens in our neighborhood directly affects the security of the American people. But support does not relieve us of our responsibility to conduct oversight. Congress has a duty to ask hard questions about strategy, legal authorities, coordination with regional partners, and what comes next. And we must ensure that a stronger focus on our own hemisphere does not come at the expense of American leadership elsewhere. Strength at home and in our neighborhood should reinforce\u2014not replace\u2014our engagement in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East.\n\nThe goal is not hemispheric seclusion, but strategic prioritization rooted in American strength.\n\nI look forward to hearing from Ambassador Kozak on how the State Department is implementing this strategy, how we are coordinating across the interagency, and how Congress can help ensure the United States remains the partner of first choice in our own hemisphere.\n\nQuestioning:\n\nSenator Curtis: After Secretary Rubio\u2019s visit to Panama, they announced they would move to leave China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative. We also saw the announced sale of the Panama Canal port assets operated by Hong Kong-based entities to a U.S.-led consortium. Are there lessons we can draw from Panama about how the United States can use diplomacy, commercial engagement, and strategic clarity to roll back China\u2019s influence in the region? And part two: Are there other countries in the hemisphere where you believe a similar approach might be equally successful?\n\nAmbassador Michael Kozak: Yes. Thank you, Chairman. I would say there are some good lessons out of it. Each situation is somewhat different, but Panama had come to its own conclusion that being part of the Belt and Road Initiative was more liability than gain, so they told us they were ready to leave.\n\nThey also had their comptroller look into the way those port concessions had been granted and found a great deal of fraud and failure to implement the agreement. So, their Supreme Court took action there. I think what was key, though, was that China then attempted to intimidate them by doing inspections and detaining their Panama-flagged vessels in Chinese ports, and so on.\n\nPanama needed a little backup and got it from countries in the region. The countries that joined the Shield of the Americas, by and large, issued statements standing in solidarity with Panama against that threat from China. But we\u2019ve also seen, in other parts of the region, the Chinese try to move in. For example, in some places they\u2019ll go directly to a university and say, \u201cWe\u2019ll donate a telescope to you so you can do high-level research.\u201d It turns out the telescope is really designed to spy on American satellites and other things like that. They bypass the national government. We\u2019ve had some success talking directly with subnational groups. We\u2019ve also had success dealing with national governments or urging national governments throughout the region to adopt investment-screening mechanisms.\n\nCurtis: Yeah, let me bore down on that a little bit. Because you kind of hit on one of the questions I want to ask, which is this China strategy. You\u2019ve mentioned a couple of things. I think the loans that become predatory and that they then foreclose on\u2014I mean, there\u2019s quite a long list. Your answer on Panama is interesting. I guess let me come back to this concept. If that\u2019s what brought clarity to Panama, how do we bring clarity to these other countries\u2014not just with elected officials, but with the voters, the constituents, who tend to see all of this coming from China and know the state\u2019s not doing anything? The reality is that we have this little thing called the rule of law, and we do things differently. We\u2019re far more transparent, and the way we help isn\u2019t always seen the way China seems to be seen. So, what would you suggest, particularly from a congressional role, about how we get better clarity on what China is doing and also get better credit for what we\u2019re doing when we\u2019re doing good things?\n\nKozak: I think it\u2019s super important to get people sensitized to this. At the beginning, governments didn\u2019t realize how predatory the Chinese loan strategy was. They\u2019ve now learned by adverse experience. What we\u2019ve been trying to do\u2014and this goes back to the last time I had this job\u2014is publicize throughout the region just the facts. We\u2019re not saying don\u2019t engage with China. We still buy things from China. But we\u2019re saying, \u201cLook at what happens to you if you get into this kind of a deal. Don\u2019t enter into it on their terms.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s been quite successful, certainly at the national government level, though not as much with the populations at large. We\u2019ve been trying to do more public relations, and I think anything Congress can do to bring focus to this would help.\n\nOne of the things we did, which I mentioned in my testimony, was these restrictions on visas. Basically, members of legislatures, judiciaries, labor unions, and others in foreign countries who take bribes from the Chinese\u2014or other forms of compensation\u2014and act as agents for China by pushing some of this activity\u2026 The Administration has said, if you\u2019re going to do that, you\u2019re not welcome here anymore. We\u2019re not going to give you or your family visas to come to the United States. We tried this originally in Central America. It worked very well. We\u2019ve now expanded it to the whole hemisphere.\n\nCurtis: It seems like stronger coordination between Congress and State, as we go into those countries\u2014knowing which messages to carry and which things to point out\u2014might also be helpful.", 1, "2026-07-16T07:21:44Z", "2026-07-16T07:23:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-calls-for-countering-chinas-influence-in-western-hemisphere"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3545888252556324, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}