ANewEraforChinaLatinAmericanRelations:MoreOpportunitiesthanChallenges 2 45 Americancountriessee Chinaasa majorpotentialpartnerfornew tradeand investments , MexicoandmostoftheCentralAmericanandCaribbeancountriessee Chinamoreasacompetitor , enteringthe US marketwithsimilarlabourintensive products.BlamefortheprivatesectorspoorperformanceinsomeLatinAmerican countriesoftenfallsonthegrowingpresenceofChinainworldmarkets ( Lederman , OlarregaandPerry2009 ) .SomethoughtthatbygrantingChinafreemarketstatus theywouldautomaticallygainmoretradeandinvestments ( Wu2007 ) .Furthermore , ChinahasoftenencounteredsevereantidumpingmeasuresinsomeLatinAmerican countrieswhichofferedChinafreemarketstatus.Thesedifficultiessuggestthatboth sidesfacetheurgenttaskofthinkingofmoreeffectivewaysofmaintainingthe momentumofbilateraleconomiccooperation. Despitecompetitivepressures , Chinasrapidgrowthshouldbeseenasan opportunity , which hasactually been helping regionaleconomies , notonly becauseoftherapid growthin purchasing power , butalso because ofthe growingforeigndirectinvestment ( FDI ) andfinancialflows.Inthepastdecade , South Americancountries withacomparativeadvantageincommoditieshave benefitedalotfrom Chinasgrowingdemandforoilandothercommodities. LatinAmericarankssecondasarecipientofChineseFDI , whichhasgonemainly intoenergy , commoditiesandinfrastructure.Ithasgreatpotentialforexpansion toothersectors , suchasmanufacturing , however.Innovationcooperationin scienceandtechnologyhasbeenheavilypromoted — forexample , thecooperation betweenChinaandBrazilonsatelliteprojects.Chinaspotentialforbecomingan importantsourceoffinancingforLatinAmericaisconsiderable.Argentinahas alreadysignedacurrencyswapdealtotallingaboutRMB70billionwithChinain April2009 , makingitthebiggestfinancialdealin both Chineseand Latin Americanhistory ( Turner2009 ) .Withitssizableforeigncurrencyreservesand increasinglyactiveprivatesector , Chinawillbeoneofthetopcreditornations withglobalreach.AfavourableinvestmentclimateinLatinAmericawillbevery helpfulinattractingFDIfromChina. Chinaspresencein Latin Americatosomeextentputspressureonthe regionsspecialisation patterns , shiftingtoward higher naturalresource and knowledgeintensiveactivitiesandproducts ( Lederman , OlarregaandPerry 2009 ) .Nationsmustfurtherexploretheircompetitiveadvantagesinahighly segmentedglobalmarket.ItisthereforenaturalforLatinAmericancountries withrichresourcestofocusonnaturalresourcerelatedindustry.However , relyingonasingleindustrywillinevitablyleadtovulnerabilityinthefuture. JustasChinasplentifullaboursupply , now mainlydevotedtomanufacturing , couldbeusedtobuildaknowledgeeconomyinthefuture , Latin American
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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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