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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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TheEU LatinAmericaandChina:GeometricalPatternsinCurrentandFutureRelations 59 cannotcomparewithorbeacounterweighttothatofAsia. ThesechangesandEuropesrelativelossofpowerarefeltstronglyinLatin America wheretherearealsoindividualactorspursuingstrategiesthataremore similartothoseofAsiathantothoseofEuropeintermsoftheirsearchforpower andhegemony firstregionalandthenglobal asmightbethecasewithregard toBrazilorVenezuela.Inthesecircumstances LatinAmericaisalsolookingfor aplaceinthenewinternationalsystemandistakingadvantageofsomeofthe newrulesofthegamebeingputforwardbyAsia. 3.4 TheElephantintheRoom:TheUSA ItbecamecustomarytodismisstheUSAasapartnerothercountriescould talktoduringtheBushera.NowweareatthebeginningofanewepochinUS foreignpolicy.PresidentObamasfirstvisitstoEuropeandLatinAmericahave ifnothingelse changedthetoneoftheseveryimportantrelations evenif in retrospect theydidnotproducefundamentalchangesintermsoftheimportance ofthesepartnersfortheUSA.Likewise USlinkswithChina giventhatitis dependentonChinesecredit areoftheutmostimportance. TheObamaAdministrationwillprobablycontinuetoconcentrateondomestic politics.Certainly theeconomiccrisishasforcedhisgovernmenttofocusonthe domesticagenda beforereachingouttooldornewinternationalpartners. Nonetheless itcanbesaidthatUSrelationsarenotparticularlysmootheither withtheEUorwithLatinAmerica anddefinitelynotwithChina.Despitethis theUSAwillremainanactortobereckonedwithintheyearstocome evenifit isstillimpossibletopredictwithcertaintywhatkindofroleitwillplay.Onthe onehanditwouldbegoodtohavea USA thatdoesnotseem allpowerful becauseitcouldadoptahumblerattitudeandpolicyandmightbemorewillingto listentoothers.However ifthe USA emergesterriblydebilitatedfrom the crisis theworldwilllackaleader.Itisacaseof cantlivewithem cantlive withoutem 4.犛狆犲犮犻犳犻犮犚犲犾犪狋犻狅狀狊犫犲狋狑犲犲狀狋犺犲犕犪犻狀犃犮狋狅狉狊 4.1 LatinAmericaEuropeanUnion Theyear2009 markedthetenthanniversaryoftheestablishmentofthe socalled strategicbiregionalassociation whichstarted withthefirstEU LatinAmerica Caribbean LAC SummitinRiodeJaneiroinJune1999.The EULACschemeprofessestomaintainapoliticaldialogueatthehighestlevel amongpartnersthat inpracticalterms areconsideredtobetwohomogeneous