This book assesses the political, economic and geopolitical dynamics that China’s presence has initiated throughout Latin America and the Caribbean between 2008 and 2020. Written by experts across three continents, contributions to this edited volume explore the bilateral relations that China has developed with almost all Latin American and Caribbean countries, charting both the benefits they have brought and the problems that these relations have created for local actors. The book analyses the emergence of new forms of "dependence", considers issues such as the existence of a deindustrialization phenomenon throughout Latin America and ultimately questions whether China and the United States are engaged in a zero-sum game in the region. It also investigates challenges that the densification of the web of China’s relations and exchanges with Latin America and the Caribbean countries pose; not only to the United States and European countries, as traditional partners of these states, but also to Latin American regionalism. Including an extensive set of case studies and local, regional and global-level analysis, China-Latin America and the Caribbean provides an empirically rich resource for students and scholars of Chinese foreign and economic policy, Latin America, the Caribbean and wider geopolitics.

The economies of China and of the Latin America and the Caribbean region are the current global growth poles and, over the coming years, will grow twice or three times as quickly as the industrialised economies, which will have to adjust to slower growth and higher unemployment. The present juncture offers an opportunity to rethink global and regional partnership strategies and to put greater emphasis on South-South ties in trade, foreign direct investment FDI) and cooperation. In this document, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) posits that China and the Latin America and the Caribbean region now enjoy a sufficiently mature relationship and are poised to make a qualitative leap towards a mutually beneficial strategic alliance.

This volume explores the policy dynamics, economic commitments and social impacts of the fast evolving Sino-LAC relations. China’s engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean has entered into an era of strategic transition. While China is committed to strengthening its economic and political ties with Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin America as a bloc is enthusiastically echoing China’s endeavor by diverting their focus toward the other side of the ocean. The transitional aspect of China-LAC ties is phenomenal, and is manifested not only in the accelerating momentum of trade, investment, and loan but also in the China-CELAC Forum mechanism that maps out an institutional framework for decades beyond. While Latin America is redefined as an emerging priority to the leadership in Beijing, what are the responses from Latin America and the United States? In this sense, experts from four continents provide local answers to this global question.

The economic successes of China and India are viewed with admiration but also with concern because of the effects that the growth of these Asian economies may have on the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. The evidence in 'China's and India's Challenge to Latin America' indicates that certain manufacturing and service industries in some countries have been negatively affected by Chinese and Indian competition in third markets and that LAC imports from China and India have been associated with modest unemployment and adjustment costs in manufacturing industries. The book also provides substantial evidence of positive aggregate effects for LAC economies associated with China's and India's greater presence in world exports, financial flows, and innovation. Chinese and Indian growth is creating new production possibilities for LAC economies, particularly in sectors that rely on natural resources and scientific knowledge.

The Chinese migration to the Latin America/Caribbean region is an understudied dimension of the Asian American experience. There are three distinct periods in the history of this migration: the early colonial period (pre-19th century), when the profitable three-century trade connection between Manila and Acapulco led to the first Asian migrations to Mexico and Peru; the classic migration period (19th to early twentieth centuries), marked by the coolie trade known to Chinese diaspora studies; and the renewed immigration of the late 20th century to the present. Written by specialists on the Chinese in Latin America and the Caribbean, this book tells the story of Asian migration to the Americas and contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the Chinese in this important part of the world.

Latin America is looking towards China and Asia -- and China and Asia are looking right back. This is a major shift: for the first time in its history, Latin America can benefit from not one but three major engines of world growth. Until the 1980s ...

China's role as an economic powerhouse in Latin America is reshaping a region on the cusp of development and change. Since the turn of the century, bilateral trade between China and Latin America has increased massively, going from $12.17 billion in 2000 to $307.94 billion in 2019. From the pampas of Argentina and the vast Brazilian Amazon to Panama's canal and Jamaica's coastal waters, China is financing roads, railways, dams and ports that are transforming regional economies and societies. Beyond China's global search for resources and markets, Bejing's engagement with Latin America is amplified by cutting-edge technologies and a growing assertiveness in regional diplomatic and military affairs. The United States, once complacent in its dominant position over its proverbial 'backyard', is increasingly alarmed by the spectacle of deepening Chinese involvement in this part of the Western hemisphere. What are we to make of these shifting dynamics? In this detailed and up-to-the-minute investigation, Chris Alden, author of the critically acclaimed China in Africa, and Alvaro Mendez, leading expert in the international relations of Latin America, look at the interests, strategies and practices of China's incoming power. The book starts by unpacking the historical links between Imperial China and Colonial Latin America through the 19th century, then turns to the revolutionary role played by Mao's China during the Cold War. Next, it turns to global China's contemporary expansion into Latin America by focusing on the development dimensions of engagement in individual countries, and concurrently, on the exercise of agency by Latin American governments and societies intent on managing Chinese interests to their advantage. Finally, the book addresses these relationships in the context of heightened global competition between China and the United States, which in Latin America manifests as sharpened contestation over everything from investment in lithium mining to the promotion of Covid vaccines.

This book represents the latest systematic study on relations between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, one of the highest academic achievements of the Institute of Latin American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in recent years. This book comprehensively examines the development of diplomatic relations between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, and elucidates the great diplomatic achievements of China over the past 65 years. The history of relations marks the chronology of China's foreign strategy adjustment, and the evolution of pattern and change of internal and diplomatic affairs of Latin American countries. As a cornerstone of the discipline of Latin American Studies in China, this book is a must-read for the study of Sino-Latin American relations.

"The Emergence of China: Opportunities and Challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean provides a comprehensive overview of China's economic policy and performance over recent decades and contrasts them with the Latin American experience. What are the underlying factors behind China's competitive edge? What are the strategic implications of China's rise for growth and development in Latin America? These questions open new avenues for thinking about revitalizing development strategies in Latin America in the face of China's successful development and reduction of poverty. This insightful report is a must-read for analysts, policymakers, and development practitioners, not only in Latin America and the Caribbean, but wherever China's presence is being felt."--Jacket.