Introduction

Abstract

Since the 2004 visit of China’s President, Hu Jintao, to Latin America, the growing relationship between the two regions has been appearing in the news across the world. This was the second visit of a president of the People’s Republic of China to Latin American countries in the twentieth century and its consequences are still impacting the dynamics of the world economy. One of the most visible results of this visit is the explosion of trade between China and Latin America; by 2010 it had reached similar levels to those of the trade between the EU and Japan at the end of the 1990s, thus rivalling one of the traditional axes of the Triad.

South America is going to be the hot spot for Chinese investment in the coming ten years … Entrepreneurs who want to ‘challenge the blue ocean’ should be ready to go to South America.

Chen Yuan, President, China Development Bank