Introduction

This report examines the nature and implications of cooperation between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and three Central American countries—Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras—through the analytical framework of the “arenas of authoritarian cooperation”: administrative, public policy, institutional, and ideational.

The central argument is that relations with China is not limited to conventional economic or diplomatic dimensions, but rather constitutes a multidimensional network of ties encompassing technological transfer, elite training, institutional interaction, and the dissemination of regulatory frameworks. In contexts of democratic erosion, these dynamics can contribute—without the need for direct coercion—to strengthening state capacities that favor the concentration of power and social control.

The three countries analyzed exhibit varying degrees of democratic decline, allowing for an examination of how a common strategy of international projection can generate differentiated effects depending on domestic political conditions. In this sense, the report does not posit a mechanical relationship between Chinese cooperation and the advance of authoritarianism in Central America, rather, it demonstrates a functional affinity between certain instruments of cooperation and the needs of illiberal regimes.

The main finding is that these arenas do not operate in isolation, but rather as an interdependent system. Technology enables new state capacities; institutional cooperation facilitates their adoption; and the ideational dimension contributes to legitimizing them. The result is a cumulative process that simultaneously strengthens China’s strategic projection and the governance capacities—including coercive ones—of the recipient states.