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THE MAKINGS OF A CHINA-LATIN LOVE AFFAIR

William Ratliff

Asia Times, May 30, 2008

The explosive growth of China's links to Latin America in recent years are but the latest developments in a history that reaches back to the Spanish colonial empire in the early-16th century.

In some ways the perceived benefits and liabilities have not changed much over the centuries, though they are now on a far grander scale. A Spanish padre wrote in 1669 that "one cannot imagine any exquisite article for the equipment of a house which does not come from China". At the same time, however, Spanish barbers in Mexico City petitioned the government to relocate Chinese barbers to the outskirts of the city because they worked too much and that constituted "unfair business practice" [1].

Only during the militant Maoist decade of the early-1960s to mid-1970s was China's primary interest in Latin America, which was marginal, to overthrow existing governments. Some in the United States and Latin America worry that this rapidly rising China poses or will pose a security threat to the United States and the region. Many also worry that the influx of Chinese, with their different culture and institutions, will reduce the prospects for Latin reforms that promote open markets, political democracy, and greater respect for human and civil rights, including the rule of law. Responses to these concerns depend on what the Chinese and Latin Americans want and get from their contacts and on a realistic analysis of Latin America and broader Sino-US relations.

(...) [artículo aquí]