ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, declining interest in Latin America by both the United States and the Soviet Union – now Russia – has created something of a power vacuum in the region.2 China certainly has taken advantage of this shift in international balance of power to expand its influence in an area in which it has important interests. For one thing, the region has already become a vital source of energy, natural resources, and foodstuffs for China. China’s trade and investment in Latin America have soared since the late 1990s. China has become a “quiet” but increasingly important actor in Latin America. Though Beijing continues to put great-power relations (daguo guanxi) and its relations with neighboring countries (zhoubian guojia guanxi) as top foreign policy priorities, China’s interest in Latin America has grown tremendously. With the emerging China as an increasingly important player on the world stage, diplomatic and economic links between Latin America and China have grown in importance.3
Almost all Latin American leaders now have led high-level missions to China to express their interest in broadening cultural and economic ties with Beijing. Some Chinese experts believe that Sino-Latin American ties have entered their “best period in history.”4
