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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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ANewEraforChinaLatinAmericanRelations:MoreOpportunitiesthanChallenges 45 Americancountriessee Chinaasa majorpotentialpartnerfornew tradeand investments MexicoandmostoftheCentralAmericanandCaribbeancountriessee Chinamoreasacompetitor enteringthe US marketwithsimilarlabourintensive products.BlamefortheprivatesectorspoorperformanceinsomeLatinAmerican countriesoftenfallsonthegrowingpresenceofChinainworldmarkets Lederman OlarregaandPerry2009 .SomethoughtthatbygrantingChinafreemarketstatus theywouldautomaticallygainmoretradeandinvestments Wu2007 .Furthermore ChinahasoftenencounteredsevereantidumpingmeasuresinsomeLatinAmerican countrieswhichofferedChinafreemarketstatus.Thesedifficultiessuggestthatboth sidesfacetheurgenttaskofthinkingofmoreeffectivewaysofmaintainingthe momentumofbilateraleconomiccooperation. Despitecompetitivepressures Chinasrapidgrowthshouldbeseenasan opportunity which hasactually been helping regionaleconomies notonly becauseoftherapid growthin purchasing power butalso because ofthe growingforeigndirectinvestment FDI andfinancialflows.Inthepastdecade South Americancountries withacomparativeadvantageincommoditieshave benefitedalotfrom Chinasgrowingdemandforoilandothercommodities. LatinAmericarankssecondasarecipientofChineseFDI whichhasgonemainly intoenergy commoditiesandinfrastructure.Ithasgreatpotentialforexpansion toothersectors suchasmanufacturing however.Innovationcooperationin scienceandtechnologyhasbeenheavilypromoted forexample thecooperation betweenChinaandBrazilonsatelliteprojects.Chinaspotentialforbecomingan importantsourceoffinancingforLatinAmericaisconsiderable.Argentinahas alreadysignedacurrencyswapdealtotallingaboutRMB70billionwithChinain April2009 makingitthebiggestfinancialdealin both Chineseand Latin Americanhistory Turner2009 .Withitssizableforeigncurrencyreservesand increasinglyactiveprivatesector Chinawillbeoneofthetopcreditornations withglobalreach.AfavourableinvestmentclimateinLatinAmericawillbevery helpfulinattractingFDIfromChina. Chinaspresencein Latin Americatosomeextentputspressureonthe regionsspecialisation patterns shiftingtoward higher naturalresource and knowledgeintensiveactivitiesandproducts Lederman OlarregaandPerry 2009 .Nationsmustfurtherexploretheircompetitiveadvantagesinahighly segmentedglobalmarket.ItisthereforenaturalforLatinAmericancountries withrichresourcestofocusonnaturalresourcerelatedindustry.However relyingonasingleindustrywillinevitablyleadtovulnerabilityinthefuture. JustasChinasplentifullaboursupply now mainlydevotedtomanufacturing couldbeusedtobuildaknowledgeeconomyinthefuture Latin American