China's Strategic Partnerships in Latin America

Case Studies of China's Oil Diplomacy in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, 1991–2015

Yanran Xu

This study examines how China has developed a diplomatic mechanism to expand its international influence through the establishment of strategic partnerships. These strategic partnerships have sparked a debate among analysts. On the one hand, some optimistic studies applaud the win-win objective of China’s foreign policy and portray China as a successful model for developing countries. On the other hand, more skeptical studies depict China as a rising imperial power that represents a competitive threat to Latin America. This book focuses on China’s strategic partnerships with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela within the oil sector. It stresses how Chinese strategic partnerships with each of these four countries have diverged across cases over time (1991–2015). The study finds that the strategic partnerships are asymmetrical in which China benefits more than four Latin American countries in a variety of aspects. I suggest Latin American countries to push for greater diversification of export agenda toward China, to develop new productive partnerships beyond traditional sectors and to increase the competitiveness of firms. Meanwhile, China’s diplomatic actions toward Latin America are more than likely to result in forms of change, particularly across my four country cases, and where strategic partnerships are concerned.

Lexington Books

Pages: 168 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-4469-6 • Hardback • December 2016 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-4471-9 • Paperback • November 2018 • $46.99 • (£36.00)

978-1-4985-4470-2 • eBook • December 2016 • $44.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / Asian, History / Asia / China, Political Science / World / Caribbean & Latin American, Social Science / World / Asia, Political Science / Country and Regional Studies

China's Strategic Partnerships in Latin America

Case Studies of China's Oil Diplomacy in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, 1991–2015

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This study examines how China has developed a diplomatic mechanism to expand its international influence through the establishment of strategic partnerships. These strategic partnerships have sparked a debate among analysts. On the one hand, some optimistic studies applaud the win-win objective of China’s foreign policy and portray China as a successful model for developing countries. On the other hand, more skeptical studies depict China as a rising imperial power that represents a competitive threat to Latin America. This book focuses on China’s strategic partnerships with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela within the oil sector. It stresses how Chinese strategic partnerships with each of these four countries have diverged across cases over time (1991–2015). The study finds that the strategic partnerships are asymmetrical in which China benefits more than four Latin American countries in a variety of aspects. I suggest Latin American countries to push for greater diversification of export agenda toward China, to develop new productive partnerships beyond traditional sectors and to increase the competitiveness of firms. Meanwhile, China’s diplomatic actions toward Latin America are more than likely to result in forms of change, particularly across my four country cases, and where strategic partnerships are concerned.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 168 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-4469-6 • Hardback • December 2016 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-4471-9 • Paperback • November 2018 • $46.99 • (£36.00)

978-1-4985-4470-2 • eBook • December 2016 • $44.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / Asian, History / Asia / China, Political Science / World / Caribbean & Latin American, Social Science / World / Asia, Political Science / Country and Regional Studies

Author

Yanran Xu is lecturer in the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Puzzle and Research Question
Part I: Theory and Method in the Study of China–Latin America Strategic Partnerships
Chapter 1: Case Studies of China–Latin America Strategic Partnerships
Part II: Historical Background of China’s Foreign Policy
Chapter 2: Historical Overview of China’s Foreign Policy
Part III: Key Cases in the Study of China-Latin America Strategic Partnerships
Chapter 3: China’s Strategic Partnership and Oil Diplomacy with Brazil
Chapter 4: China’s Strategic Partnership and Oil Diplomacy with Venezuela
Chapter 5: China’s Strategic Partnership and Oil Diplomacy with Mexico
Chapter 6: China’s Strategic Partnership and Oil Diplomacy with Argentina
Chapter 7: China and Latin America in Comparative Context: Empirical Analysis
Part IV: Looking Ahead
Chapter 8: Conclusion

Reviews

China’s strategic partnerships in Latin America underscores China’s efforts to establish strategic partnerships in its international relations. Xu fills a gap in the literature on cooperation and partnerships in the international arena by establishing an alternative definition of strategic partnership, which he uses to analyse the China–Latin America relationship.

— International Affairs

Yanran Xu’s application of the comparative method and a combination of Chinese, English, and Spanish source material makes this work a valuable contribution to scholarly understanding of China’s strategic partnerships in Latin America, the relative balance in those relationships, and PRC engagement with the region in general. This study is an important reference for scholars of both Chinese foreign policy and Latin American studies.
— R. Evan Ellis, Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College

This timely volume adds much to the existing literature on China–Latin America relations. Yanran Xu carefully considers China’s energy and other interests in the region within the context of Beijing’s broader foreign policy objectives. She does so while highlighting Chinese firms’ often diverse approaches to relationship-building and oil diplomacy in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela. This is a must-read for those interested in better understanding China’s activity in the region’s major oil and gas sectors.
— Margaret Myers, Inter-American Dialogue

In this groundbreaking study, Chinese scholar Yanran Xu delves deep to scrutinize the outcomes of China’s declared ‘strategic partnerships’ with key Latin American countries, assessing with clarity and honesty both win-win scenarios and disturbing asymmetries where the more powerful partner has proven to be the primary beneficiary. As a relative newcomer, China’s commercial relations with the four countries studied here—Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina—are very much a work in progress, adjusting to changing market conditions, fast-paced local political currents, and painful lessons learned from past mistakes. As Yanran Xu cogently argues, to up its game, China will have to improve the sophistication of its political risk assessments, and state-owned enterprises must honor codes of social responsibility if they are to maintain their rights of access. Yanran Xu’s well-documented conclusions should guide future studies: China faces a long road ahead as it searches for ways to forge genuinely symmetrical strategic partnerships with Latin America nations.
— Richard E. Feinberg, University of California, San Diego