Latin America-China relations
It is signed, sealed and delivered—Chilean President Bachelet signed a free trade agreement with China, after both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved it. It will go into effect within 60 days.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is in Beijing, negotiating agreements for oil exploration and building a fiber-optic communications network with the help of the Chinese government.
There is no doubt that China’s economic influence in Latin America is growing. For a number of years, some have argued that this represents a security threat to the U.S., with the most prominent past example being all the rumors that the Chinese government was plotting to take over the Panama Canal.
I’m not convinced that the expansion of Chinese companies, trade deals, and investment translates into a security threat. Last semester, one of my students wrote a good paper on the topic, but my main critique was that he assumed that connection without adequately explaining it. At this point, it seems to be a natural result of economic growth in the region. I’m not even ready to see anything sinister in the Venezuela-China ties (unlike the Venezuela-Russia deals, which are wasting enormous amounts of money on weapons).
1 comments:
I'd need to define "sinister." The issue is whether trade ties automatically mean a security threat. If Chávez is making deals with China, Iran, et al., does this pose a threat to the security of the U.S.? If so, in exactly what manner?
As for the question of where China is seeking deals, the main answer (given the FTA) is Chile, which is one of the most stable countries in Latin America.
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