Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Panama slated on December 2 and the further expansion of ties between Beijing and Central American countries is a “positive” move since the US has a “history of exploitation, war and genocide,” an American human rights expert and peace activist says.

“I view this as a positive thing myself, if you look at the history of the United States towards Central America, it has been a history of exploitation, war, genocide and I think to have China come in and providing an alternative relationship that hopefully will be less exploitative and more supportive can only be viewed as a good thing,” Daniel Kovalik, who teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in the state of Pennsylvania, told Press TV on Friday.

Kovalik also touched on the issue of caravans of Central American migrants who started their march toward the US in early October – many of them fleeing violence, corruption, and unemployment at home.

“Central America desperately needs support from another country, a stronger country…and I think China will represent that alternative right now I think it’s a very positive development,” he told Press TV on Friday.

Kovalik argued that the inclination of Central American countries towards China would further exacerbate the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.

“I think it will probably deepen the trade war because it will be in general keeping tensions between china and the US, the US will see this somehow as an aggressive move again,” he said. “We can anticipate that the trade war will probably intensify at least to some extent.”

Washington has imposed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods and has threatened to target all Chinese exports to the US. Beijing has responded by imposing tariffs on $110 billion in US products.

The US administration contends that China is using predatory industrial practices to challenge American technological dominance.