China ready to occupy US vacuum in Latin America
11/17/2004 11:48
Chinese leader Hu Jintao promised to invest up to $ 100 billions in ten years in the region
Stuck in Middle East, US President George W. Bush turned a blind eye to Latin America, where a new left-leaning leadership replaced the pro-US administrations of the nineties. China, as an emerging superpower, considers the region a strategic partner available to supply its industries and huge population with the badly needed natural resources, ranging from oil to soybean.
With the above in mind, Chinese President Hu Jintao started a tour around key South American nations as Brazil, Argentina and Chile, this week, where made known the intentions of the Communist leadership to boost trade partnership. In Brazil, Hu Jintao said China would invest up to $ 100 billions in Latin America, in ten years.
The announcement had been preceded with any sort of speculations about the level of partnership between economies, as many Brazilian and Argentinean industrials raised their concerns over an invasion of Chinese products. In Argentina, for instance, local media outlets speculated with mega infrastructure projects, as textile industrials warned on the closing of factories and subsequent raising of unemployment.
In Brazil, as promoting common prosperity is at the core of the Sino-Brazilian strategic partnership, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed facilitating trade and investment to better serve entrepreneurs. Speaking at an economic and trade seminar in the Brazilian capital Friday night, Hu said the two highly complementary economies should work towards a win-win scenario.
However, Brazil had to acknowledge China as a market economy, something that prevents it from denouncing Beijing on dumping procedures at the WTO. Urged to sign benefiting trade cooperation deals, Argentina is ready to do the same.
As for Brazil, China has become Brazil's third largest export market. Imports from Brazil approached US$6 billion last year, and hit a new high of US$6.6 billion through September, according to customs statistics. China has founded 70 firms in Brazil, and Brazil has invested in more than 300 projects in China.
As first soybean market for Argentina, China has become one of the main destinies of the exports coming out from the land of Tango. Tourism partnership is an area Buenos Aires is also trying hard to develop.
In an area thirsty of fresh money, the China dream grows bigger and bigger. As the US eagle fails to provide with a promising future, the Chinese dragon is seen by many as a substitute hegemonic power for Latin America, a region that despite recent efforts cannot find its own way
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November 18 2004, 9:52 AM
Yes,Dragon,you are sure,China are seeing good business in SA.But you forgot to say Paraguay,a country where China have manies goods business too.But,like a friend a need to say:Be smart with your money here;we are the world champions in make it to disappear in the air,like in a magical pace.Ask to some argentinian or some brazilian about the money they have in some bank deposit where are now.And here is not like in China where some corruption done can do the person be killed by The State,if it could be done here the funerary agent will be rich in a very few time.Honestity is not our strong point,in majority of the cases,and more,for to get some money in some China business.
Regards my good Dragon.
Greatings from Rio.
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November 18 2004, 12:24 PM
- very good point Paje, for South America is really a difficult environment to do business. Me like your analogy of Magician to disappear money! ROFLMAO
- BTW: have they get nail that stinky nips of Peru President, me heard the Japanese Turnips are protecting this corrupt doctor, the Japanese are real baaastard! I tell you!
- One time, these smelly Japanese wanting to buy out the entire Brazilian Rain Forest! ROFLMAO
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November 18 2004, 12:37 PM
Yes,Dragon,sure Chinese are much more better people than Japs,I have too agree;if I need to do a personal option between Chineses and Japs,certanly I will do the first choise.
Regards.
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"huge population with the badly needed natural resources,"
Starve the Chinese population to a moderate, acceptable level.
"An Invasion through Canada into the US would become a disaster, they are the only country that does not follow their doctrine, unpredictability and innovation is what scares the russian bear" - Russian Infantry Officer shortly after the cold war
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November 18 2004, 3:48 PM
China is self-sufficient in food. And your retarded comments just prove that Canada (specifically English Canadians) are nothing without immigrants.
By your "logic," that means we should eliminate much of the English-Canadian population because you seem to show it is retarded and hence unproductive.
This message has been edited by Diunei on Nov 18, 2004 3:53 PM
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November 18 2004, 5:44 PM
Well, Canada has a Surplus of food :P And Energy :p and everythign else we use.(Well, not oil.....yet)
All of Canada's surplus oil (and energy, for that matter) goes to the US; under NAFTA the US has locked in Canadian petrol with a clause that states that oil sales cannot go below the average of the quantities from three years previous. And yes, Canada has so much surplus wheat that the Canadian Wheat Board actually burns many tonnes in order in increase the price by artificially reducing the supply.
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I will keep my opinions to my self, that said other members should do the same
"An Invasion through Canada into the US would become a disaster, they are the only country that does not follow their doctrine, unpredictability and innovation is what scares the russian bear" - Russian Infantry Officer shortly after the cold war
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Bush visits Friday, but President Hu Jintao has been striking business deals for two weeks.
By Danna Harman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
SANTIAGO, CHILE ?? When President Bush arrives here Friday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, he's likely to be met by student protesters already in the streets chanting against "globalization," "colonialism," and the US occupation of Iraq.
But China's President Hu Jintao is getting quite a different reception. For two weeks now, he's been cutting ribbons at new factories in Argentina, enjoying beef barbecues in Brazil, addressing congresses, and announcing investment projects as he and 150 Chinese businessmen make their way across South America and on to Cuba.
As in Asia and Africa, China is rapidly expanding its economic and diplomatic presence in Latin America. Frustration in this region over what is perceived as Washington's preoccupation with the war on terror, and US trade pacts that never quite get signed, coincides with a surge in exports and new trade deals with China.
"It is telling that Hu is spending more time in South America over this fortnight than Bush has in the past four years," says William Ratliff, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "Hu will come over as much more interested in Latin American people," he suggests. "His sweet, soft-power vibes leave Bush sounding like a foghorn."
South America's "trade surpluses will be driven this year and next by Chinese demand for foodstuffs and raw materials," says Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hu's visit, he adds, is a "diplomatic breakthrough."
China's trade volume with Brazil, Argentina, and Chile reached $14.6 billion last year. Of this, China imported $10.7 billion worth of goods, mainly agricultural products and a variety of ores and minerals, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"I think the trip has gone well," says Cynthia Watson, a specialist in Chinese involvement in Latin America at the National War College in Washington. "Beijing leaders like the press attention because they can point to it as evidence that China is finally taking its rightful place as the important power on the international stage that they want to be," she says, stressing that her views are personal. "They are setting the stage for longer-term ties, and the Latin American states are eager for that."
China is, of course, not popular everywhere in the region. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in sectors such as textiles and electronics in Mexico and elsewhere in Central America due to Chinese competition in manufacturing exports. But this is increasingly being offset, especially in the South, by the booming commodity trade.
Over the past five years, bilateral trade between China and its most important partner in the region - Brazil - has more than quadrupled to $6.7 billion last year. By comparison, Brazil imported nearly $11.2 billion in US goods and services. The US is still Brazil's largest trading partner.
But when Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led a weighty 450-member trade mission to China in May, the two countries signed 14 accords. During Hu's visit this week, Chinese officials suggested that trade with Brazil could climb to $35 billion by 2010. China is expected to eclipse Argentina as Brazil's second-largest export destination by next year.
Commerce between Argentina and China meanwhile is also going strong - from $1.5 billion five years ago to $3.1 billion today.
This week in Buenos Aires, Hu announced plans by Chinese businesses to directly invest $19.7 billion over 10 years in energy production, infrastructure, and railroad expansion - agreements which would amount to the largest bilateral trade accord for Argentina since its 2001-02 economic crisis.
Chile and China, meanwhile, are in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement - China's first - which could boost two-way commerce to $10 billion a year, up from $3.5 billion in 2003. Chile is the world's biggest copper producer and China is the No.1 copper consumer.
Trade is not the only facet of the China-South America relationship that is growing. Look at four separate developments that took place just last month:
??China sent its first troops ever in the Western Hemisphere when it sent riot police to Haiti as part of a UN mission.
??The Chinese monthly "China Today," specializing in political, cultural, economic, and social aspects of China, inaugurated its Latin American branch office in Mexico City.
??Reports suggest China has offered to help finance an expansion of the Panama Canal.
??Chilean Education Minister Sergio Bitar announced that this country would soon open up four more language and culture centers like the capital's "Institute Chileno-Chino de Cultura."
"We had two, no, three, students when we started language classes here [a decade ago]," says Mr. Lopez, the center's director. "Today we have 100, and a waiting list."
The increased interest does not surprise him at all, he says: "You can't arrive to do business in Beijing and trot out English - that won't do at all."
Do all these developments point to a seismic change in the balance of power within Latin America? Most experts say no - at least not yet.
Michael Shifter, vice president for Policy at the Inter-American Dialogue warns against exaggerating the long-term sustainability of the relationship with China.
He remembers talk a few years ago of the likely dominance of Spanish capital and investment in the region, which soon fizzled. Before that there was fascination with Japan, with everyone saying Japanese was the indispensable language of the future.
"With China, of course, the potential is much greater," he says, "but at the end of the day both geography and culture matter enormously, and most Latin Americans would prefer to strengthen their ties with the United States."
Also, would China - which has a projected $140 billion trade surplus with the US this year - risk the wrath of the US to promote itself here?
"Is that wise?" asks Hopkins's Roett. "Europe returned to the region in the 70s and 80s, in terms of investment and trade, without any US protest. EU negotiations with Mercosur [a regional trade bloc] did not seem to bother anyone in DC." But, he wonders: "Is China different?"
Probably, says Nixon. "China does not want to hurt its good trade and political relations with Washington right now which something drastic would do," she argues. Rather, she expects they will move cautiously. "They are happier to move slowly and gradually," she says. "When your culture has 5,000 years under its belt, you've got the patience."
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November 19 2004, 6:28 AM
@Dan
"This is smart move by China, not good for americans interest.
WOW- Investing $100 billions in south america."
- Would you Jewish liken this big time money into your economic? Well, start selling them latest and greatest Israel weapons; let start with your AWACS, anti-missiles system, MTHEL.....etc.
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November 19 2004, 10:13 PM
I am sure that economic relations between China and Israel will flourish and continue to expand. As for the UN veto, I seriously doubt that; IMHO the best Israel could hope for would be for Beijing to abstain from voting on resolutions comdemning Israel.
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November 19 2004, 11:10 PM
@Dan
"Will China put Veto in the UN security council?? i doubts.
We R doing good deal with China , the rising or export/import is two digits
every year.
We will all watch the Olympic Games through satellite that Israel is selling
to China.
Israel interest is to develop good relations with the Chinese but keeping
the alliance with the Americans.
p.s dont forget ~40% of the Jewish in the world are living in US."
- Tell me, what good is an ineffective veto in a Lammy UN security council do for Israel; UN have no teeth and no bit to enforce any ruling! Ain't you Jewish aiming a bit narrows and shallow in this UN veto?
- Beside, if your Jewish nation conducts your business above board and in an open manner(like stop bull dozer kids); why on earth would you require UN Veto in order to covered for your dirty deeds? Unless your nations is down and out very dirty; this is why you needed the Fatso American to protect you inside the UN security council! UN veto or not; the world communities see and understand your dirty mayhem deeds! Is my analysis correct?
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November 20 2004, 8:35 PM
- Tell me, what good is an ineffective veto in a Lammy UN security council do for Israel; UN have no teeth and no bit to enforce any ruling! Ain't you Jewish aiming a bit narrows and shallow in this UN veto?
UN still has some impact, ignoring it can be mistake.
- Beside, if your Jewish nation conducts your business above board and in an open manner(like stop bull dozer kids); why on earth would you require UN Veto in order to covered for your dirty deeds? Unless your nations is down and out very dirty; this is why you needed the Fatso American to protect you inside the UN security council! UN veto or not; the world communities see and understand your dirty mayhem deeds! Is my analysis correct?
Israel condemns in the UN is due to the automatic majority the arabs have.
Most of the time they got the support of states that are well known as "democrats" and "human right" support.
About the bulldozing kids- well this is one of the ten commandment, we must do it.
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November 20 2004, 9:47 PM
there are soo many chinese its not even funny. wll its funny because no matter how hard china tries, there will still be a majority of its people living in some kind of poverty, poverty makes china strong today.
here is something, if Arabs think they are going to be the next super power, if indians think they are oging to be superpower, and china thinks its oging ot be a superpower, just how the **** are you 3 going to compete?
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November 20 2004, 9:57 PM
wll its funny because no matter how hard china tries, there will still be a majority of its people living in some kind of poverty, poverty makes china strong today.
Huh? I don't see the logic here, maybe you need to explain what you are getting at.
here is something, if Arabs think they are going to be the next super power, if indians think they are oging to be superpower, and china thinks its oging ot be a superpower, just how the **** are you 3 going to compete?
In a couple of words: win-win situation. If you do not treat world affairs as a "zero-sum game," then everybody can walk away feeling good. And just like we did for thousands of years previously, Arab, Indian and Chinese civilisations can just focus on their internal developments while trading in good faith at the same time.
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November 21 2004, 6:18 AM
- Haa! Haa! Looks to me, American ain't that welcome inside Chile; why is that? Dear IQ Bush have to rescue one of his security guard from the Chilean police. The entire IQ Bush security team is not allow to follows him, except one of his body guard! ROFLMAO
U.S. President George W. Bush, center left, reaches in to the crowd for his Secret Service Agent who was blocked from entering the Estacion Mapocho Cultural Center for the APEC Summit dinner, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004, in Santiago, Chile. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.
Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.
As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president's agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.
The president, looking irritated, straightened his shirt cuffs as he went into the dinner. The incident was shown on APEC television.
"Chilean security tried to stop the president's Secret Service from accompanying him," said White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan. "He told them they were with him and the issue was resolved."
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November 21 2004, 11:09 AM
about NAFTA..i know mexico has got a **** deal out of it.But what abooot canada?
Canada already had a free trade agreement with the US 5 years prior to NAFTA. From my observations, the damage was done long before the 1989 ratification of FTA by Mulroney and Reagan. The 1965 Auto Pact is one example. Then again, prior to NAFTA the US and Canadian economies were already efficient, 1st world economies and Canada's economic role has always been one of export to larger economies; UK (as a colony,) then USA.
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November 22 2004, 11:38 PM
"Oi dragon ,i told you about Chinas aims to expand into latin/south america ages ago...and you dismissed it as western scaremongering!! lol"
- Half brother Nero: Even for a Chinese Alarmist liken yourself; you must realize that Chinese expansion into South America is for trade and economic win-win for all concerns.
- This is not PLA sending troops into Brazil to subjugated(Oops! tango) with the natives....etc.
- So, in order words; this is just legal business dealing and trade; why is there to be fearful of our Chinese friendships towards the South American?
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November 23 2004, 12:25 PM
Dragon:Tango is an Argentinian dance;The Brazilian is between others dances,the most famous is Samba,because its The Official dance/sound during The Carnival times.
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E Tan, E Epi Tas! on loan! 
