BURSTHouse Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said Sunday that the United States must do more in the Western hemisphere to keep China's growing influence at bay across Latin America.
"We sort of repositioned a lot of assets to address the global war on terror in two theaters, Iraq and Afghanistan — broadly the Middle East, and we sort of neglected our own neighborhood," Crawford told NewsNation's Chris Stirewalt in an interview on "The Hill Sunday."
Crawford described it as his most pressing international concern facing the U.S.
"It's the Chinese malign influence that's taking place throughout the hemisphere," he said. "It's them carving out a niche politically, economically, and I hope not militarily — but we're also seeing sort of an interest there."
Crawford, an Army veteran picked to lead the influential House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in January, said he has seen how China has built relationships in the region as the U.S. focused elsewhere. He noted the U.S. adversary has won over relationships through trade deals, infrastructure backing, and other perks.
"We haven't really done much in the way to engender any kind of a real kind of relationship that is concrete," he said, specifically citing Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. "We're not doing that, and we should be."
Crawford said he believes those countries would prefer to work with the U.S. over China, but the U.S. hasn't done enough to forge partnerships.
"I've met with heads of state in most every country in the hemisphere, and they'll all tell me, 'You're our preferred partner,' and then they'll turn around and get an agreement with China," Crawford told Stirewalt. "What are we doing to give them some options, to give them alternatives? And the fact is, we haven't."