China and “distant neighbors”

Explaining Mexico and the identity of Mexicans to Americans (and vice versa), as well as our relationship with them, can be quite complex. It is also difficult, I think, to explain this complexity to oneself. This is how I understood it when I taught my first course on US-Mexican relations in a neighboring country to the north, and I confirm this every time an American asks me questions on this topic. Recently (last week) I had the opportunity to accompany 13 students on a visit to Mexico City and part of the border between the two countries as part of a summer course I teach at the university where I work on US relations. Mexico titled Distant Neighbors: Trade, Energy and Security Cooperation in the Post-COVID Era.

After the pandemic, we resumed our academic exchange programs at the university, and through travel you can realize the great changes that have taken place in our world in recent years. The United States no longer seems to be “the way it used to be” and while it is still a very powerful country, it does not appear to retain its status as the most powerful nation in the world, which defined what we thought was a unipolar world, anymore. . This decline process has been gradual and it is often impossible to detect and/or anticipate it when it occurs. However, after the pandemic and given recent events, it seems quite clear that our northern neighbor no longer retains its undisputed hegemonic power and continues to lose relevance in various areas of the international sphere and in geopolitics.

Writing about the state of US-Mexican relations today requires a lot of time and space. Many extensive books could be written on this subject, and many of them are probably already in preparation. Someday I would love to do it, but I feel like I still have a lot to learn and experience in it. I was lucky (or maybe not, it’s always hard to say) that I had the opportunity to live in both countries, learn and teach about the political systems of both countries, as well as their difficult relationship. I, too, have lived in a border town for eight years and know the entire US-Mexican border from east to west and on both sides. I have crossed over 3,100 kilometers of border, and I have also crossed each of the bridges connecting two peoples (those that can be crossed by car or on foot) three times, and some many more times.

The border is the “Third Country” as Alan Bersin says. This is a bewitching land where you don’t feel like “neither from here, nor from there”, but where sometimes you feel like your own. It happens to you when you have lived for a long time on the other side of the country where you were born, speaking a language that does not belong to your mother, and living in a culture that does not belong to you at all and that causes you conflicts, thereby nourishing your own contradictions.

Together with a great friend at the border, I wrote a book about the entire US-Mexico border on both sides (expected), where we told everything about this region and our mixed feelings and passion for it. It’s much easier for me to talk about the border and explain its dynamics than it is to try to explain to a Mexican about the United States and the farce of the “American dream” or to try to explain to an American why AMLO – a great ally of their country – is more than they could dream of – and why they should not worry so much about China and its influence on its southern neighbor.

Of the many things I would like to say about the post-pandemic relationship between Mexico and the United States, I would like to mention a few of the main ideas that I set out below and which I think are worth recapitulating in this very brief reflection on the course and journey. On the relations between the two peoples in general today, I could write dozens of columns of opinions, various articles and a book the other day, if time and circumstances allowed me.

I would like to highlight here, first of all, what I always consider it necessary to begin my studies on US-Mexican relations: the myth of the “Mexican-American War (Mexican–American War). I must explain to the Americans that I did not know of the existence of this supposed “war” until I arrived in their country. I must also tell you in detail about the historical moment that Mexico experienced in that part of the nineteenth century, in order to tell you later that we call this period of our history the “American intervention in Mexico” or the “invasion” of this country. I must also tell you that for the Mexicans of that century, “their revolution” (the one they call American) is equivalent to our independence and that what they glorify as the Mexican-American War is a bitter historical memory for us (so to speak), because our country has lost more than half of its territory at the hands of the invaders.

I’m not entirely sure if Americans understand what we think of as an intervention or an invasion, as they think of every major moment in their country’s (militant nation’s) history in terms of war. This justifies their imperialism, their interference in the affairs of other peoples, theft of resources and territories, as well as various crimes against other peoples.

In short, I am somewhat surprised by the concern of government officials and scientists on the “other side” about the risk that China could pose due to its presence and potential success in its relations with Mexico. I may be wrong, but I believe that Mexico’s relationship with the United States is stronger than ever and that our neighboring country has as fundamental allies the current Mexican President and his Fourth Transformation government (including the successor to AMLO) – who most likely , would continue to dominate Mexican politics for years to come. It suffices to pay attention to the President’s “Bolivarian” speeches (including the northern neighbor, not China) and fully analyze immigration, trade and, above all, energy policy during the AMLO’s six-year term. The advancement of the military sector in Mexico also strengthens the border of the United States with the world. Our neighboring peoples, if we look closely, seem closer than ever.

For many, this closeness may not be obvious. The hegemonic media narrative is a bit confusing, but a deeper analysis of the history of relations between the two countries, our own history, and contemporary geopolitics would clear things up. For reasons of space, I will not be able to explain the relevant processes that explain the strength of the relationship in this case.

Americans shouldn’t worry so much about China and its influence in Mexico. Despite the constant tension in the history of our relationship, as well as our people’s dissatisfaction with US imperialism, intervention, the loss of more than half of our territory and the constant plunder of our resources, the United States and Mexico are “two indivisible nations” (as Shannon K. O’Neill put it) — but in the interests of the white elites (the rich) and to the detriment of the indigenous peoples (the poor) and ancient and modern slaves on both sides of the border.

This indivisibility of “distant neighbors” and the “labyrinth of loneliness” in which the poor, undocumented migrants, ethnic and racial minorities of our two countries get lost can be better understood if we turn again to the masterpieces of Alan Riding and Octavio Paz. The authors have perfectly captured the twentieth-century reality of who we are as Mexicans and the complex relationship between two very unequal nations. Asymmetry and complexity (without China) persist even during times of colonial transformation and the apparent decline of the empire.

Author: Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is a research professor of politics and government, specializing in security issues, border studies, and Mexico-US relations. Written by Los Zetas Inc.Guadalupe Correa Cabrera
Source: La Opinion

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