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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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56 China theEUandLatinAmerica:CurrentIssuesandFutureCooperation especiallygivenitsincapacitytoactasasingleinternationalactorandits diversityandcomplexity.Otherspointtowardstheimminentarrivalofanew bipolarsystem inwhichthemainactorswillbeChinaandtheUSA tothe exclusionoftheEU. Seenfromtheoutside theUnionisaverycomplexactorthatfewunderstand. Thereisapermanentfeelingthatnooneisinchargeandif atanygivenpoint someonedoesseemtobeincharge therearecriesonallsidesthatitshouldhave beensomeoneelse ashappenedwiththeappointmentofMrVanRompuyas PresidentinNovember2009.ThesamecanbesaidofBaronessAshton.Inthat sense theEuropeanmodelseemstobetoocomplexandtootaxingforoutside observers. Furthermore Europehasnotyetlostitsimageasapaternalisticactorin termsofitscooperationschemes.Itsselfassignedroleasa normativepower is noteasytoselltolessdevelopedpartners whohavetheconstantfeelingofbeing judgedonthebasisofunfairorunattainablestandards.This intheend leads totheperceptionthattheUnionclearlyhasdoublestandards.Evenifthisisnot thecase itsforeignpolicy basedonprinciplesandvalues lackscredibility. 3.2 LatinAmerica:ARegioninSearchofItself LatinAmericahasundergoneanenormoustransformationinthepastfew years.Politically thecontinentisbarelyrecognisable.TheswitchtotheLeft ortomanyLefts hasperplexedmanyobservers.Nonetheless theLeftdoes notgovernallofLatin America as wecanseeinthecasesof Mexicoand Colombia. Theissuesthataffecttheregionarediverse.Drugtraffickingandthe associatedeffectsoforganisedcrimeinMexico Colombiaandsomepartsofthe CaribbeancanscarcelybecategorisedtogetherwithenergyplansinBrazilor politicalturmoilinArgentina.Ifoneissueiscommontothewholeregion itis migration.Theeffectsoftheveritablehaemorrhagingofpopulationinrecent decadesareyetto beseen but willcertainlyimposeacostonthefuture developmentoftheregion. Intermsofvalues Latin Americahasalsosuffered manychanges.The regionislettingslidemanyformervalues buthasadoptedmanynewonesfrom theoutsideworld.Thatiscertainlythecasewithregardtotheconfigurationof itssocietiesandtheinfluenceofmigration forexample ontraditionalwaysof life.However anoteofcautionisinorder:thesocalled Americanisation of valuesinLatinAmericavariesdependingonthecountryandtheregion.Ifwe lookattheAndeancountries Europeanisation mightwellbeintheworks