China’s Rise in Latin America

Ana Lucía Salinas de Dosch,Jörn Dosch

doi:10.32890/jis.8.2012.7923

Abstract

In November 2004 Chinese President Hu Jintao’s first tour of Latin America marked the beginning of a new phase in Beijing’s relationship with the region. Since then China has followed a three-fold political and economic strategy towards Latin America: first, to secure the provision of oil, minerals and agricultural products; second, to create access to new markets for the country’s growing export volume of manufactured products; and third to make sure that Latin American governments adhere to the ‘one China principle’ in their foreign relations. This is of particular importance vis-à-vis Latin America where China had previously lost diplomatic ground when some states officially recognised Taiwan. The article asks as to whether and what extent China and Latin America countries have become economic and strategic partners. Do Latin American governments play the China card to hedge against Washington? Special emphasis is given to the case of Ecuador which exemplifies the PRC’s growing prominence as an actor in Latin America. When Chinese foreign policy makers began to show some interest in Latin America during the early 1960s Ecuador was not a priority. However, the PRC has significantly strengthened its interests towards, and presence in, Ecuador since 2005. The provision of oil but also metals – primarily copper and cold - and increasingly agricultural products has taken centre-stage in Beijing’s strategy towards the Andean country. The article argues that while China’s influence in Latin America has undoubtedly increased significantly during the last half-decade, its role is still overshadowed by the US.

Highlights

Conceptualising and explaining China’s rise – and Beijing’s hunger for raw materials and resources – has been engaging academics and policymakers for some time
We argue that while China’s influence in Latin America has undoubtedly increased significantly during the last half-decade, its role is still overshadowed by the US
China follows a three-fold political and economic strategy towards Latin America: first, and most importantly, to secure the provision of oil, minerals and agricultural products; second, to create access to new markets for the country’s growing export volume of manufactured products; and third to make sure that Latin American governments adhere to the ‘one China principle’ in their foreign relations. This is of particular importance vis-à-vis Latin America where China had previously lost diplomatic ground when some states officially recognised Taiwan

Summary

Introduction

Conceptualising and explaining China’s rise – and Beijing’s hunger for raw materials and resources – has been engaging academics and policymakers for some time. The frantic, and in most cases successful, attempts of Chinese state-owned corporations (such as Petro China and Sinopec) to get their hands on Latin American oil and other commodities; the establishment of “strategic partnerships” and “strategic dialogues” with several states in the region; China’s training of increasing numbers of Latin American military personnel; extensive party-to-party ties of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with political parties across the continent; and other examples of the intensifying Sino-Latin American links seemingly support the neorealist notion of China following a “containment through surrogates” strategy (Malik, 2006) According to this view, Beijing counters the perceived containment of its regional and global aspirations by the United States (and its allies) and engages in soft-balancing of the OECD world through trade, investment, development aid and an increasingly active role in multilateral settings. We argue that while China’s influence in Latin America has undoubtedly increased significantly during the last half-decade, its role is still overshadowed by the US

A Brief History of China-Latin America Relations

Findings

Conclusion