Foreign Policy Responses to China's Growing Presence in Latin America

The new millennium marked the beginning of an increasing presence of China in Latin America. Starting with trade growth at unprecedented rates, the Chinese relations with the region have developed in different dimensions: political, economic, socio-cultural and strategic. Moreover, the Asian power developed a structured approach for this linkage, based on the China's Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, issued in 2008. On the other side, Latin America has benefited from this scenario, particularly with the high demand of commodities and significant flows of investment and cooperation from China. However, the region has not reacted as a single bloc and, considering the remarkable variety of states in Latin America, every nation has performed according to their capabilities and restraints. This study argues that a more detailed analysis on the foreign policy responses of particular Latin American countries would be an academic contribution to the overall understanding of the dynamics of this new relationship with the Asian major power.