Lucia Dubajová

China's Modern Geopolitical Strategy in Latin America After 1990: A shift from Politically Driven Motivations to Long-term Economic Cooperation Lucia Dubajová

China?s influence in Latin America has been significantly growing for more than 2 decades. While in the 80s the primary objective for PRC to engage with countries in Latin America was politically motivated as a result of diplomatic competition with Taiwan (ROC), since the beginning of 90s economy has become the main driving force to enhance Sino-Latin strategic partnership. Latin American region is rich in natural resources which can satisfy China?s needs for raw materials. PRC has been also taking advantage of weaker rule of law in many Latin American democracies that are currently in transitional period. For this reason, bilateral agreements can be achieved in much faster pace than with any other liberal democratic countries. At the same time we can witness decreasing role of US in Latin Americas, on the other hand increasing presence of China that is also indicated through intensity of diplomatic visits. Foreign aids, loans and high investments in infrastructure projects are important components of PRC?s geopolitical strategy to secure long-term cooperation with Latin America which is mutually beneficial however there are also weaknesses that have to be improved by China.