The Sub-National International Cooperation in the Relationship Between Argentina and China

The chapter outlines the theoretical approach used in this research. Based on the relationship between China and Argentina, the chapter proposes a study of the links at the sub-national level between both states, specifically the ties between the Buenos Aires Province with Chinese counterparts, the municipality of Bahia Blanca with Dalian, and the municipality of General Pueyrredón with Tianjin, which is constituted as an innovator subject in the bilateral relationship and where a lack of recent research has been found. Conclusions will be presented to demonstrate the huge potential to increase the economic, political, cultural, educational, and commercial ties at the subnational level between Argentina and China provinces and local governments and to analyze from the IR discipline the participation of the Asian country in the Argentine sub-national international politics.

Cuba and the United States in the Configuration of a Foreign Policy for Spain

After the election of the socialist party in 1982, relations between Spain and Cuba entered a channel of greater understanding, as the two nation's traditional commercial and economic relationship found a complementary association in the greater political affinity between Felipe González and Fidel Castro. In the international context, the Cuban leaders had their own vision of the role that Spain might play on the international stage and sensed the possibilities that the young Spanish democracy could open up for the Third World. For Spain there was a need to maintain a neutral international orientation and remain detached from the military pacts with the great powers. This chapter explores Cuba and the United States in the configuration of a foreign policy for Spain.

Social Development in the Integral Strategic Association China-Venezuela

In April of 2001, the People's Republic of China under Jiang Zemin and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under Hugo Chavez initiated the first steps towards the construction of the Strategic Alliance for Shared Development between both nations, which has now established over 16 years of their relationship. This relationship could be defined as a set of instruments and mechanisms that have gradually materialized China-Venezuela cooperation, conceived under the three principles that they regulate: graduality, mutual benefit, and perfect planning.

Argentinian Population and Agglomeration Patterns and Regional Hierarchical Structures

This chapter will analyze Argentinean structures and patterns of interaction observed at the regional level in applied terms from the perspective of lagging regions. For reasons of space, the emphasis is on the geographic structure of the population and its dynamics. The subjection of aspects of the center-periphery relationship also forms part of the discussion. This discussion takes place within the already unbalanced Argentine macro-fiscal context, which generates uneven capacities and structures to absorb and deal with aggregated dynamics. The main characteristics of the regional and urban structure are defined through a series of fundamental variables, such as population, centrality, and diversity.

A Dragon on the River of Painted Birds

China is a country with a history that spans more than 5000 years, a civilization that has maintained its customs and art throughout that period, and a nation that is known to the world as the “Dragon of Asia.” Uruguay is a small country in South America with a similarly rich cultural background, whose name, in the indigenous language of the Guaraní people, means the “River of the Painted Birds.” Uruguay has a comparatively small history of only 200 years, but it is a nation defined by the diversity of its population and their experiences – from the indigenous people to the colonizers and immigrants. Uruguay is also a land of revolutions, marked by the search for social equality and freedom.

Argentina-China 3.0

At this current time of transition, relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Argentine Republic are 45 years old. After a period of steady progress in trade and diplomatic exchange between 2004 and 2014, the arrival to power of President Mauricio Macri in 2015 posed a challenge for both countries: How would the two sides consolidate their strategic relationship to the point where it would transcend political changes in Buenos Aires? This chapter argues that the arrival of a new government in Argentina, rather than representing an obstacle to greater cooperation, may provide an opportunity for further consolidation of the relationship.

Argentina's Train Diplomacy

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of the OBOR initiative for Argentina, starting from the premises that Latin America is not considered fundamental for the OBOR initiative and that Argentina played a secondary role in its economic relationship with China. In other words, could Argentina be considered to be on the periphery of the periphery for China and the OBOR initiative? And a more important question, could Argentina escape from that position to which it seems to be historically condemned? To answer these questions, a case study has been selected, the railroad Belgrano Cargas (FBC), because of the importance it represents for Argentine and Chinese interests. Argentina considers it a fundamental means to strengthen the national economy and connect, above all, the interior of the country (Central and Northwest) with Buenos Aires; China, on the other hand, sees in the FBC another means to create a bi-oceanic corridor capable of transporting primary products from Argentina to Chile and from there to China.

Building Neighbourly Policy Through Oil

China has always tried to maintain a stable and peaceful environment in the territories on its borders and has made great efforts to ensure that all the countries of Central Asia have remained under its influence since 1949. Consequently, increased U.S. presence in Central Asia has caused great discomfort in Chinese policy circles. One Chinese approach to the countries of this region is to engage Central Asian nations through channels relating to energy, and oil in particular. In recent years, Chinese oil companies have purchased rights and exploited reserves of oil and natural gas in many Central Asian countries. Through its oil companies, the Chinese establishment strengthens and deepens bonds of friendship with countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. This practice has become known as 'oil diplomacy.' This new tool offers the Chinese government two benefits, as it engenders both the increased projection of Chinese geopolitical power and the dilution of U.S. influence in the region.

Venezuela

The United States and China currently constitute the world's two biggest hegemonic and emerging economic powers. Venezuela maintains commercial relations with both powers in the oil trade. Since the latter 20th century, the United States has been its main trade partner, followed by China, who in the 21st century became the second largest buyer of Venezuelan oil in the world. Venezuela is also the third largest supplier of oil for the United States and the seventh for China. In spite of this close, prolonged, and strategic commercial relationship, Venezuela has recently been designated an “Unusual and Extraordinary Threat to US National Security and Foreign Policy.” In contrast, an alliance with China exists, called the Strategic Partnership Integral. President Donald Trump has already expressed special interest in the situation of Venezuela, just within his first 100 days. This is a country that represents, as said before, an Unusual and Extraordinary Threat to National Security according to an Executive Order dated March 9, 2015.