China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. viii-ix ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanbo Li ◽  
Xufeng Zhu

During the initial implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda), the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was held in Santiago, Chile, in January 2018. During this forum, China officially invited 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This study links three important global governance issues: The 2030 Agenda, China-LAC relations and BRI. The authors attempt to analyze how China’s BRI in the LAC region can learn from the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study shows that although China and the LAC region have strong political, economic and trade relationships, they must deepen dialogues and cooperation on sustainable development, especially the 2030 Agenda with 17 SDGs, which can be inspirations for China’s BRI in this region. BRI, which aligns with the 2030 Agenda and contributes to Chinese experience in development, can generate new opportunities for the LAC region to implement such an agenda. However, the challenges and risks of BRI cannot be ignored, and adequate answers and solutions should be provided to allow BRI to achieve a win–win outcome for China and LAC countries. The authors also examine the alignment of China’s policies towards LAC and BRI with the 2030 Agenda (17 SDGs) and the involvement of each SDG in these policies as the 2030 Agenda (17 SDGs) should be considered in policy-making for China’s BRI in the LAC region. Moreover, on the basis of previous analyses, suggestions for a successful BRI in the LAC region in six sectors are proposed in the context the 2030 Agenda.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Javiera Francisca Flores Urbina

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the development of a massive project of global connectivity infrastructure, known nowadays as the Belt and Road Initiative (一带一路). Although it was originally presented as a trade project focused on Europe and Asia, through the years the Belt and Road Initiative has been unravelled as a much more complex project. Lately, it has been extended to more territories, one of them being Latin America and the Caribbean region. Chile has already signed cooperation agreements regarding the Initiative, and cooperation in trade and connectivity between Chile and China is already taking place. This article will discuss the changes and continuities that the cooperation between Chile and China, under the scope of the Initiative, provides for the sustainable development challenges Chile faces. The article concludes that the cooperation dimensions between both countries represent elements of both changes and continuities for the model of development of Chile.


2021 ◽  
pp. 186810262110478
Author(s):  
Rhys Jenkins

When China invited the Latin American countries to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, it fuelled expectations of a much closer and more productive relationship with the region. In practice, however, there is little evidence that this was happening even before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The article shows that neither the policy statements by China nor the trends in economic relations indicate a substantive change in Sino–Latin American relations and that the Belt and Road Initiative represents a repackaging of existing relations and the continuation of trends that have been underway since the global financial crisis.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Enrique Serrano Moreno ◽  
Diego Telias ◽  
Francisco Urdinez

PurposeThe objective of this study is to address the diplomatic and economic implications of the participation of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).Design/methodology/approachThe study examines official documents related to the BRI and LAC's signing of the Memorandum of Understanding within the framework of the BRI (MoUs) in order to look into what it means to join the BRI. Additionally, it also introduces the findings of articles in Asian Education and Development Studies' current issue published in 2020.FindingsIn LAC, the BRI does not represent a new policy, but rather the updating and rebranding of a pre-existing one. The BRI primarily consists of an official discursive framework which aims to build a coherent narrative for a wide range of different projects and policies geared toward the improvement of connectivity with China through the development of trade and investments. However, most of these projects were implemented prior to the BRI. Pragmatism lies at the core of this framework which neither has a regulated accession process nor any binding effects. As a result, the signing the MoU represents, foremost, a diplomatic mise-en-scène. The study operates under the belief that BRI membership is not dichotomous; rather, it must be observed in terms of the countries' level of participation. In line with this, the implementation of a generalized BRI policy in LAC countries would not be advisable. Moreover, it must be noted that the BRI's reach to Latin America can be rather problematic due to the fact that the latter was not initially a participant.Originality/valueThe study aims to explore the significance of the BRI beyond the official discourse and discuss the involvement of LAC countries in it. Scholars studying the BRI in other regions have noted that there is not enough information on this policy in the context of LAC.


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