China in Latin America: A Contemporary Story

Abstract

In Americans’ minds, China’s rise to economic superpower status may evoke images of economic influence in Asian or African countries, or just the amount of U.S. dollar reserves the Chinese Government holds. But what happens when China quietly steps into America’s pre-eminent geographical sphere of influence and dominion: Latin America? After all, when was the last (first) time that you heard that a U.S. president visited a Latin American country to increase American exports to the region and create jobs at home? The answers to these questions lie within a careful analysis of the U.S. relationship with Latin America and the implications that a Chinese economic and diplomatic takeover of the region may have for the U.S. as the pre-eminent superpower in the Western Hemisphere and the world.