South America-Asia Pacific relations: Belt and Road and beyond

M. FLORENCIA RUBIOLO

América Latina y Asia: entre la revolución digital y la globalización cuestionada

ALADI, CEPAL, CAF

Lugar: Montevideo; Año: 2020; p. 47 - 66

China?s Belt and Road Initiative (bri) emerges as an opportunitybut also as a concern for Latin American governments. bri is Beijing?s recent and emblematiceconomic and political strategy, with a focus on investment in infrastructure to ?improvephysical connectivity along a maritime and continental silk route? (Mayer, 2019: 1228).Although Latin America was not originally a part of the initiative, during the ii MinisterialMeeting of the celac-China Forum, the representatives stated that ?Latin American andCaribbean countries are part of the natural extension of the Maritime Silk Route and areindispensable participants in international cooperation of the Belt and Road? (celac-ChinaForum, 2018). Besides consolidating as South America?s major trade partner, China is nowaiming at becoming a major investor through a wide range of fnancial tools, including directinvestment, swap agreements, and different types of loans. a central concern for South American economies is the deepening concentrationand dependence on the Chinese market and its fnancial resources, that from an economicdiplomacy perspective might generate future liabilities for the local governments (Wigell andSoliz Landivar, 2019; Kotchwar, 2014). On the other hand, Chinese bri is an opportunity withunique characteristics ?with less conditionalities and more fexibility than the traditionalinvestors (United States and European led companies and institutions) (Kotchwar, 2014)?to improve and expand regional infrastructure. Finally, we understand that the relationwith China, although it certainly entails the major fgures for all South America, must beconsidered within the wider Asia-Pacifc scenario, including India and Southeast Asia inthe analysis.In this paper we aim to analyze some of the implications bri might have for South Americancountries against the backdrop of the commercial concentration, and also to address thesemajor bilateral relations within the context of the region?s links with other Asia Pacifceconomies, namely India and Southeast Asia.