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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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TheEU LatinAmericaandChina:GeometricalPatternsinCurrentandFutureRelations 57 giventheintensemigratoryflowsbetweenthetworegionsinthepastdecade. Nonetheless LatinAmerica remainsaconceptualshortcutandapolitical tool giventhat mostLatin Americancountriesontheirown wouldhaveno significanceinanalteredinternationalsystem.However theneedtorecurtothe globalconceptofLatinAmericamisleadspartnersandgivesthewrongideato outsideobservers. Asalreadynoted thingsinLatinAmericahavechanged notallofthemfor thebetter.Inthatsense itisunderstandablethatsomeofourpartners specificallythe European Union seem permanently disappointed withthe regionsinequalityindicators forexample.Theregionwentfrom beingthe posterchildofWesternpoliciestobeingthechildleftbehind especiallyinthe wakeoftheAsianboom.Politically althoughmanypollsseemtoconfirmthat democracyishealthyinLatinAmerica thetruthisthatthisishardlythecasein mostcountries.Traditionalpartysystemsare gradually deteriorating and democraticgovernmentsarelessabletosolvethemainproblemsaffectingtheir populations.Thereturnofpopulismorneopopulism whichisastyle nota formofgovernment hassettheregionbackanumberofdecades. Thesamehashappened withregardtotheraw materialsboominthe internationaleconomy.LatinAmerica whichseemedtohavemovedfaraway from whattheauthorsofthedependencytheorylamenteddecadesago has returnedtoitsroleofcommodityprovider.Thiswouldnotbeaproblemifit werenotfortheartificialgrowthprovokedbythesaleoftheserawmaterialsand theconsequencesofsuchgrowthforthepoliticalenvironment.Venezuelaisa caseinpoint. Despiteallthesechallengingissues thereisstillhopeinLatinAmerica. Brazilhasdefinitely becomethenew posterchildfortheregion andits aspirationstorisefromthestatusofregionalpowertothatofworldpowermust betakenintoaccountinanyfuturecooperationschemes.ThroughtheUnionof SouthAmericanNations UNASUR ), butalsothroughSouthSouthcooperation schemes Brazilisstartingtopositionitselfasapowerfulandinfluentialactor notonlyinLatinAmerica butworldwide.AsamemberoftheG5 theG20and theBRICs Brazilwillcertainlyhavearoletoplayintheformationofthecoming worldorder. 3.3 China:The Unknown Actor witha DifferentVisionandthePowerto ProduceChange Inthepastfew years Chinahas madeoverwhelmingprogressonthe internationalscene.Wenowfaceamodern wealthyandstrongChinathatis