Cunning CCP plot?

Shades of Sun Tsu and Mao

Flooding the US of A with illegal migrants?

In a newsletter, Alice Su Senior China correspondent of the Economist wrote of her trip to Ecuador.

The typical route looks like this: first they board a plane to Ecuador, one of only two South American countries which offers visa-free entry to Chinese nationals. From there they make their way to the Darién Gap, a treacherous strip of jungle between Colombia and Panama, and then head northwards through Central America. Increasing numbers of Indians, Afghans and other nationalities are also making the journey. 

It’s hard to imagine that citizens of China, the world’s second-biggest economy and America’s superpower competitor, would go to such lengths. But Chinese people are now the fastest-growing group at the US-Mexico border. America’s border patrol encountered over 37,000 Chinese migrants there in 2023, more than 50 times the number in 2022. Most say they are fleeing political repression and an economic downturn at home. 

Criminal groups are cashing in. Chinese migrants pay more to cross the Darién Gap than their impoverished Latin American counterparts, who mainly come from Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador. Smugglers offer them one of three packages: $350 for a one-week trek across the jungle; $700-800 for a faster two-day journey that involves more time on a boat; and $1500 for an “all-inclusive package” on horseback, with meals provided and nights in hostels. 

The disparity between migrants is visible in other ways. In Tapachula, a Venezuelan woman told us that cartel members had abducted her partner on the road and kept him and others hostage in a chicken coop for four days until their families paid ransoms. Chinese migrants, meanwhile, are paying up to $10,000 for smuggling packages that take them all the way to the US border, they told me. 

But getting into America won’t be easy. On June 4th President Joe Biden issued an executive order that limits the number of undocumented migrants who can claim asylum when the number of crossings reaches a daily limit. Ecuador’s government has also announced that it will temporarily suspend visa-free entry for Chinese nationals from July 1st. On Telegram, a messaging app, Chinese migrants are already discussing alternative paths once the Ecuador route closes.