News Analysis Defense diplomacy is Beijing’s stealthy move to expand its soft power through arms sales and military education—for both autocratic states and democratic allies of the United States—in the Americas. The Chinese regime is giving arms, loans, and investment to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), in exchange for mineral resources and political allegiance. China imports about 75 percent of the world’s traded iron ore, and 60 percent of its copper from Latin America. Beijing repays the favor and strengthens relationships by providing the LAC region with military hardware and training. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), an association of socialist governments, was the first buyer of Chinese weapons in the early 2000s. ALBA members include Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. Using the ALBA states as a springboard, arms …