This is absolutely just her drumming up a case for intervention. She sees China's B&R as an existential threat to the US and see the entirety of South America as nothing more than raw material.

Chinese investment is really extraction, Richardson said. Not just in terms of cash or natural resources, but also strategic positions. The general described a recent flight over the Panama Canal where she saw Chinese state-owned enterprises on both sides of the canal that could be turned quickly toward military capabilities.

"I think we should be concerned, but this is a global problem," she said.