ABSTRACT
The commodity-focused Chinese interests raise concerns about Latin America's increased dependency on extractive sectors, with both the risks of deindustrialization - also due to Chinese competition – and local conflicts around large mining and oil projects. The rise of China has a great impact on Latin America’s development trajectories. Economic relations with China have expanded at an unprecedented speed since the start of the 21st century. While most Latin American governments have applauded and stimulated these new relations, the rapidly growing influence of China has been subject to several debates in society and academia. From the 1990s onwards, China has strengthened relations with most Latin American countries. From the start, Brazil has been China’s most important partner in the region.
