Latin America: The latest focus of China's major-power diplomacy
- By Wu Baiyi
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 23, 2015
Third, guided by the twin concepts of "inclusive growth" and "sustainable development," China is spearheading a "new normal" of the global economy and providing more public goods to the world. It is honoring its commitment of "sincerity, concrete results, affinity and good faith" in relation to other developing countries, which are reaping real benefits from interacting with China.
The cooperation plan for 2015-2019 adopted by the China-CELAC ministerial meeting identified trade, investment and financial cooperation as the key engines driving their relations as well as six major areas of cooperation, namely energy, agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, innovation and information technology. At the meeting, China promised to quicken the provision of a $20 billion USD infrastructural loan, $10 billion USD concessional loan and $50 million USD agricultural loan. In addition to economic cooperation, China also promised to do more to boost political and cultural ties. The numbers are enticing. In the next five years, China will offer 6,000 scholarships and 6,000 training opportunities to Latin American and Caribbean countries, invite 1,000 leaders of political parties to visit China, and implement a training program called "Bridge for the Future," which is expected to link up 1,000 Chinese and Latin American young leaders.
Fourth, China is operationalizing its vision for relations with the United States characterized by "avoiding conflict and confrontation," "mutual respect" and "win-win cooperation." Beijing has made clear its readiness to work with Washington at the regional and global level and undertake international responsibilities befitting its national condition and strength. The idea is to combine each other's strengths to provide more public goods to the world.
It is a safe bet that China's cooperation with Latin America as a whole will drive regional integration and prosperity. Thus, it must not be viewed as a challenge to Washington, but as a positive contribution to peace and stability in the Americas. This may be why some foreign commentators have cautioned Washington against both seeing China's outreach to Latin America as barging into its own backyard and taking significant action to counter the Chinese move.
Wu Baiyi is a research fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
For more, see http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/latin-america-is-the-latest-focus-of-chinas-major-power-diplomacy/
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