Abstract
In the last two decades, China became a major economic force in Latin America, due to trade and investment, and it established strong links with the countries in the region, including a strategic partnership with Brazil. However, Chinese influence is also provoking concerns in the United States, while the latter is trying to curb Beijing’s role in Latin America. This paper analyzes China’s actions in the region and the American response, using Brazil as a case-study environment because of its importance for the Chinese foreign policy and its current president, who adopted a pro-Trump foreign policy and a rhetoric that is very critical of Beijing. The author begins by analyzing China’s strategy towards Latin America presenting a historical outlook of major events thereto, particularly underscoring both growth and diversification of the Chinese investments in the last decade. The author then proceeds to analyzing current position of the U.S. towards Chinese actions in Latin America, additionally highlighting major U.S. concerns thereto. The final part of the paper represents a case-study of Chinese policy towards Brazil and correspondent Brasília’s position on the subject concerned. It is noted that close-term prospects are complicated to draw due to the dynamic changes in the international scenario, with the deterioration of the Washington-Beijing relations, and the cross-pressures that these disputes will bring to Brazil.
Highlights
China became very important to Latin America’s economy in the 21st century
The Asian nation has a strategic partnership with Brazil since 1993 and together they are a part of several international groups such as BRICS, BASIC and the two G-20s
The Brazilian military officers have a conservative view of foreign policy, which usually supports the consensus of the last decades, but are more critical of the rapprochement with Latin American left-wing regimes, and usually careful about China
Summary
In the last two decades, China became a major economic force in Latin America, due to trade and investment, and it established strong links with the countries in the region, including a strategic partnership with Brazil. This paper analyzes China’s actions in the region and the American response, using Brazil as a case-study environment because of its importance for the Chinese foreign policy and its current president, who adopted a pro-Trump foreign policy and a rhetoric that is very critical of Beijing. The author begins by analyzing China’s strategy towards Latin America presenting a historical outlook of major events thereto, underscoring both growth and diversification of the Chinese investments in the last decade. The author proceeds to analyzing current position of the U.S towards Chinese actions in Latin America, highlighting major U.S concerns thereto. The final part of the paper represents a case-study of Chinese policy towards Brazil and correspondent Brasília’s position on the subject concerned. It is noted that close-term prospects are complicated to draw due to the dynamic changes in the international scenario, with the deterioration of the Washington-Beijing relations, and the crosspressures that these disputes will bring to Brazil
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