China (& India) – Latin America News Attack

Over the past few days my news radar has exploded with China-LatAm related news. Here are a few excerpts from the English articles.

Chinese investors become responsible in Latin America – study

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Chinese investors in Latin America are showing greater awareness of the social and environmental impacts of their business activities, and have started applying standards to make trade more sustainable, a research report said on Thursday.

The study from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) looked at investment by Chinese state-owned enterprises in Peru, Brazil and Chile, in the mining, agriculture and forestry sectors. China is expected to overtake the European Union to become Latin America’s second-largest trade partner next year, after the United States, it noted.

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China to the rescue of Argentina with a 10 billion dollars equivalent swap

Argentina is negotiating with China a new 10 billon dollars equivalent swap of international reserves support based on the experience of 2009 when the global financial crisis. The new accord should theoretically help Argentina strengthen its international position vis-à-vis the run on the dollar (or the flight from the Peso) and which has cost the Central bank 4 billion dollars so far this year.

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Chinese Vice-president in Argentina to strengthen long-term strategic partnership

China is determined to advance in mutually beneficial cooperation with Argentina visiting Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao said on his arrival on Thursday to Buenos Aires. He underlined that the new Chinese leadership will continue to perceive and develop bilateral relations from a long-term strategic perspective.

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China In Latin America: Why Is Vice President Li Yuanchao Visiting Argentina And Venezuela This Week?

Chinese vice president Li Yuanchao arrives in Caracas this week to meet with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello after having spent the second part of last week in Buenos Aires. In recent years, China has expanded its economic links with Latin American countries, with Chinese manufacturers establishing their presence throughout the region, while China has become a main source of growth in exports of raw materials like petroleum, copper, iron and soybeans. But Argentina and Venezuela are the two countries with which China has had an uncertain relationship.

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Venezuela-China Trade Jumps

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Venezuela and Central America gain most in China trade.

Venezuela led the way in Latin American growth of exports to China and imports from the Asian country, according to a Latinvex analysis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In percentage terms, three of the top four trade growth winners are from Central America. And when it comes to Latin American exports to China, the top three countries in percentage increases are from Central America.

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Chinese Vice-president asks Venezuelan government for efficiency in joint-projects

“We have to take care that these projects are effective and efficient, in the sense that they can play a positive role in employment and economic and social effects,” Li told Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua while touring the site.

“I hope the efficiency factor will be taken into consideration.”

The plant is for pasteurizing milk and producing other dairy products and is being constructed in Valles del Tuy, near the capital.

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India’s Hero MotoCorp launches brand in Latin America

The country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today said it has launched the ‘Hero brand’ and its range of two-wheelers in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in Central America.

Hero MotoCorp also announced a partnership with the reputed Indy Motos Group of Guatemala to bring its two-wheelers to these markets. Under the alliance, Indy Motos has been appointed as the authorised distributor of Hero MotoCorp range of two-wheelers in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Pawan Munjal, managing director and chief executive officer, Hero MotoCorp, said: “This launch is a significant milestone for us considering this is the first of the new international markets, where we are starting our operations.”

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Peru’s non-traditional exports to China rise 92% in 2005-12

The Peruvian Exporters’ Association (Adex) has reported that China-bound exports of non-traditional products worth over US$ 1000 a year increased by 92 percent between 2005 and 2012.

According to official data, the number of these goods jumped from 108 to 207 in the period.

Adex said that exports of non-traditional products to China were valued at US$ 332.1 million in 2012, an increase of 29.3 percent compared to US$ 255.7 million in 2010.

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Peru’s non-traditional exports to India up 389.22% in 2010-12

Peruvian exports of non traditional products to India grew by 389.22 percent to US$ 83.6 million between 2010 and 2012, the Peruvian Exporters’ Association (Adex) said Tuesday.

This sum accounts for 21.64 percent of total exports to the Asian country in 2012, when they amounted to US$ 386.6 million.

According to Adex, the increase shows that Peruvian exports are entering markets with sustained economic growth like India and China in a context of global crisis.

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CAF Announces new common agenda for China and Latin America

UNA AGENDA COMÚN PARA CHINA Y AMÉRICA LATINA

En Beijing se realizó la tercera edición de la Conferencia CAF-ILAS, dedicada este año al tema Desarrollo y Transformación: Una Agenda Común para China y América Latina

El Presidente Ejecutivo de CAF –banco de desarrollo de América Latina– en visita a ese país se reunió con altas autoridades del mundo político, financiero y académico de Beijing y Shanghái.

(Shanghái, 10 de mayo de 2013).- “Desde América Latina y China debemos avanzar conjuntamente en la construcción de una relación estratégica de largo plazo que sea integral, dinámica y equilibrada”, dijo Enrique García, presidente ejecutivo de CAF –banco de desarrollo de América Latina– durante una visita de trabajo de cinco días a China, donde se reunió con altas autoridades del mundo político, financiero, empresarial y académico de Beijing y Shanghái.

Ésta se realizó en el marco de la III Conferencia CAF-ILAS, así como en la labor de este banco multilateral en tender puentes entre ambas regiones, con miras a promover el desarrollo sostenible de América Latina.

En la primera etapa del periplo, en Beijing, se destacaron los encuentros sostenidos con el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, el Ex-Im Banco de China; y el International Economic Club of China. El Presidente Ejecutivo de CAF subrayó las excelentes relaciones entre la institución financiera latinoamericana y el país asiático, cumpliendo así su rol catalítico entre ambas regiones.

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LSL – Survey of LatAm Consumer Trends

CSA Analysis – Latin America – China in focus

As the spread of article excerpts below will exhibit, the China – Latin America relationship and its future will be more than simple a complementary exchange of Latin American natural resources for Chinese manufactured goods. Although, as the 4th article indicates below, from China’s State Media Giant Xinhua explains, the corner stone of Sino-Latin American relations still remain within the realm of the “complementary exchange,” the two regions offer one another.  However, as CSA attempts to exhibit in this piece, the growth of Sino-Latin American ties also includes:

1/ Cheap Chinese Loans (especially to countries cut off from borrowing  raising money on international markets), which represent new sources in which Latin American countries can borrow money and raise money instead of traditional means they have been forced to reply upon since independence – Loans from European and US Banks, issuing bonds, shares in companies on international stock markets, and other financial market market vehicles where international investors allocate their money in Latin America.

2/ Beyond new markets for China’s manufactured goods, China has began to aggressively expanded into Latin America’s service sectors — Banking, Telecommunications, Logistics, and more.

3/ Defense… A rather sensitive and misunderstood area of cooperation because both China and their counter-parts in Latin America do not go into great detail to explaining very clearly what their ultimate goals for enhancing military cooperation may be.  As the author of this blog who has followed this topic for many years, I am personally of the opinion that is it all about following the money trail. An actual military alliance or very close military ties with a specific country in Latin America would be very difficult for me to imagine.  The US, various countries within Latin America, others and around the world would have serious reasons to prevent such from every being reality. Not to mention, US Presidents throughout history have periodically used the proclamation of the policy outlined in the Monroe Doctrine, signed into being US President Monroe on December 2, 1823 to justify intervention in the hemisphere.

The Monroe Doctrine in short, is a statement made to the world that further efforts by other nation states to colonize land or interfere with independent states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention if deemed necessary. 

U.S. presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan have all fallen back on this proclamation to justify action in one form or another.  I don’t doubt for a second that if China’s expansion in the region, militarily speaking reached a tipping point where the a present day US President would find a means in which to justify intervention.  Perhaps again falling back on the policy outlines by the Monroe Doctrine, and adapted within context of current, present day geopolitics of the world.

Instead, as I mentioned above it’s about the money. The US, Europe, The UK, Russia, and now even Japan (which recently passed legislation allowing it to participate in the ever more lucrative market or arms trade), is where China’s primary interest lies. Just like China wants markets for its manufactured goods and services, there is also a great deal of money to made in selling the arms markets of the world, especially when you consider a region which has oddly enough in recent years began to increase military spending (see this article for more information regarding Latin America’s increase in Military Spending.

 

China Grabs Share in Latin America Wind With Cheap Loans

[Source] : BusinessWeek

By Stephan Nielsen on November 20, 2012

Chinese wind-turbine makers have broken into the South American market, the world’s fastest- growing, by offering government-backed loans at interest rates as much as 50 percent lower than local offerings.

The package deals can get buyers to choose Chinese machines over those of Western manufacturers such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) of Denmark or General Electric Co., much in the way the U.S. government helps American exporters sell everything from cotton to satellites by guaranteeing loans or insurance.

…

Chinese Loan

Geassa, short for Generadora Eolica Argentina del Sur SA, is seeking a 12-year loan with a two-year grace period and an annual interest rate of 6 percent above Libor, the London interbank offered rate. The financing may be complete by June, he said. The company will use Chinese turbines and hasn’t selected a supplier.

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Correlation Breakdown as Asia, Latin America Diverge: Currencies

[Source] : BusinessWeek

By Ye Xie on November 20, 2012

Asian currencies that once moved in lockstep with their Latin American peers are diverging by the most ever as China attracts investors to the region without boosting commodities, the main exports for Brazil and Chile.

The four-week correlation between the currencies of the two regions reached minus 1 last month, meaning they always move in the opposite direction, according to index data compiled by Bloomberg and JPMorgan Chase & Co. As recently as May, the correlation was plus 1 as the indexes moved in tandem. The Chinese yuan has climbed to 19-year highs amid gains in retail sales and the South Korean won reached the strongest since 2011, while Brazil’s real and the pesos in Mexico, Chile and Colombia weakened over the past two months.

“Usually when people buy China, it boosts currencies in both Latin America and Asia,” Dirk Willer, the head of Latin American local-markets strategy at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said by phone. “But this time around, given that the commodity link isn’t working, people get bought up on Asia but not on Latin America. There’s a long-term structural story.”

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China Construction Bank Still Looking to Expand Into Latin America

[Source] : The Wall Street Journal

By Ryan Dube November 21, 2012, 1:37 p.m. ET

LIMA, Peru–State-run China Construction Bank Corp. (CICHY, 0939.HK, 601939.SH) is still looking to expand to Latin America and could announce plans to open an office in the region “quite soon,” a company executive said.

China’s second-biggest bank by assets is looking at acquisition targets and expansion opportunities throughout the region but especially in Brazil, said John Weinshank, head of corporate banking and trade finance at China Construction Bank’s U.S. branch.

Chinese companies are investing heavily in Latin America as they look to develop natural resources needed to fuel the Asian country’s rapid growth. One of the biggest Chinese investments in the region was the $7.1 billion deal by state-owned China Petrochemical Corp., or Sinopec, to purchase a 40% stake in Repsol YPF SA’s (REP.MC, REPYY) Brazilian unit.

In Peru, one of the world’s top mineral producers, Chinese companies are developing several copper and iron-ore projects. Together, these projects will require investments of about $11.4 billion, according to figures from Peru’s Mines and Energy Ministry. Chinese-owned projects represent about 20% of the total pipeline of investment projects in Peru’s mining sector.

“The bank is very keen to expand into the region and set up a foothold,” Mr. Weinshank said in an interview during the Latin American Banking Federation’s annual conference in Lima, which ended Tuesday. “Our customers are here and are doing business, so we have to follow our customers.”

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Economies of China, Latin America complementary: bank official

[Source] : Xinhua / China People’s Daily

LIMA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — The economies of China and Latin American countries are highly complementary, and bilateral trade has enjoyed rapid growth, a Chinese bank official told the 46th Annual Meeting of the Latin American Federation of Banks here on Tuesday.

The expansion of China’s domestic demand has been a driving force of Latin American economies, Ma Suhong, deputy division chief of Urban Finance Research Institute at the Industrial and Commercial bank of China said on the last day of the two-day event.

Ma noted that China invested a total of 12 billion U.S. dollars in Latin America in 2011. She attributed the fast development of China-Latin America cooperation partly to China’s large domestic need and economic woes suffered by the United States and European countries.

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Chinese defense minister meets with Latin American guests

[Source] : Xinhua / China People’s Daily

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with delegates to the 1st China-Latin America high-level defense forum on Tuesday.

Liang hailed the increasingly close relations between China and Latin American countries in recent years, noting that the two sides have enjoyed frequent high-level visits, deepening political mutual trust, strengthening communication and cooperation, as well as effective coordination on major international affairs.

He said the forum shows that China attaches great importance to developing military relations with Latin American countries.

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CNN Reports: China-Latam economic ties tightening

[Source] : CNN China-Latam economic ties tightening  

By Shasta Darlington, CNN November 19, 2012

Sao Paulo (CNN) — The rise of China in Latin America, long considered the United States’ “backyard,” took many by surprise.

Now, its economic influence in the region is only expected to grow.

For the past decade China has fueled high growth in major commodity producing countries like Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru with its appetite for raw materials such as iron ore, soybeans and copper.

In fact, China replaced the United States as the top trading partner in Brazil and Chile and is on the way to doing so in many others countries in Latin America.

Click here to read the complete article direct from CNN

Some stories I would have posted from the past 2 weeks (part 2)

Global: As Global Economy Sags, Political Leaders Are AWOL

US – Latin America: Obama and Romney forget Latin America

Latin America – China: Los latinoamericanos de origen chino (parte I)

Latin America – China: El Libro Blanco chino sobre América Latina y el Caribe

Cuba: Cuba Lifts Exit Visa Requirements on Travel for Residents

Peru – China: Perú comienza a pensar en el turismo chino

Spanish language report – Reality of Venezuela China Connection

Elecciones en Venezuela: la realidad detrás de la conexión china

[Source] : China Files

By Paula Ramón

En 38 años de relaciones diplomáticas entre China y Venezuela, Caracas ha dispensado siete visitas presidenciales a Beijing. Seis de ellas han tenido lugar a partir desde la elección en 1999 de Hugo Chávez. En ese tiempo, la balanza comercial creció de US $1.900 millones hasta los US $10.272 millones en 2010, año en el cual el país caribeño se convirtió en el acreedor del préstamo más alto emitido por entidades bancarias chinas. Sin embargo, más allá de las cifras económicas, la realidad es que China se ha consolidado como un fundamental cliente del petróleo venezolano, pero no se ha convertido en el socio político que Chávez esperaba.

A pesar de los datos comerciales, invertir en Venezuela es “una mala elección” para los empresarios del gigante asiático, según el economista Wang Peng, investigador de la Academia de Ciencias Sociales de China. El especialista en Venezuela del más importante think-tank chino afirma que la nación caribeña sigue siendo un país “extraño” para la mayoría de los chinos, a pesar de los esfuerzos del gobierno venezolano.

De Caracas a Beijing

Antes de cumplir su primer año en la presidencia, Chávez partió en una gira asiática que, entre otros lugares, le permitió pasar tres días en Beijing. Ya en aquella visita señalaba que “China es garante de que el mundo no sucumbirá a un sistema unipolar dominado por una única superpotencia”, en referencia a Estados Unidos –principal socio comercial de Venezuela. Chávez iniciaba un acercamiento con China para sustentar su política anti-americana, movido por lo que él consideraba “una responsabilidad histórica” centrada en supuestas similitudes entre el pensamiento de Mao Zedong y Simón Bolívar.

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Latin America & Asia in focus

China Launches Venezuela’s Resource Monitoring Satellite

[Source] : Ooska News

BEIJING (Space Flight Now) — China launched Venezuela’s second satellite on Saturday, delivering the spacecraft into a 400-mile-high orbit to monitor the country’s territory, survey crops and natural resources, and aid Venezuela.

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Wine: Chilean winemakers set sights on China

[Source] : The Financial Times

By Adam Thomson

It is a bright, spring morning in Chile’s Maipo Valley and at the sprawling vineyard of Cousiño Macul, one of Chile’s smaller wine producers, a tour guide asks visitors to guess what its newest export market is. “China,” he tells the astonished group.

Sales abroad have more than quadrupled since 2000, reaching a record 700m litres with a value of $1.7bn last year. Those figures have helped turn the country in to the world’s fifth-largest wine exporter.

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Japan, Colombia to Launch Free Trade Talks

[Source] : The Journal of Commerce

Hisane Masaki, Special Correspondent | Sep 26, 2012 1:01PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online – News Story

Colombia’s FTA partners include the U.S. and Canada

Japan and Colombia have agreed to launch formal negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) aimed at eliminating import tariffs on most products traded between the two countries.

The agreement came when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met in New York on Tuesday, the Japanese government said on Wednesday.  The two leaders are in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said that Japan and Colombia have yet to discuss a specific schedule for the FTA negotiations.

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Venezuela y China – El Universal

[Source] : El Universal

ALFREDO TORO HARDY | EL UNIVERSAL
jueves 20 de septiembre de 2012 12:00 AM

Muchos países latinoamericanos se quejan de una relación desigual con China. No es el caso venezolano

En 2011 el comercio entre Venezuela y China alcanzó 18 millardos de dólares, lo que multiplicó por 24 los 742 millones de dólares que registró el intercambio comercial en 2003. Al culminar este año se estima que el intercambio llegará a 23 millardos, lo que representaría 31 veces más que nueve años antes. En 2011 la balanza comercial favoreció a Venezuela y otro tanto se espera que ocurra en 2012 (“Venezuela-China”, Special Supplement, ChinaDaily, June 28, 2012).

Pero más allá del comercio están los proyectos previstos o en desarrollo bajo la cobertura del Fondo de Inversiones conjunto que comenzó a operar en 2007 y al cual, hasta noviembre de 2011, China había comprometido 32 millardos de dólares. Para finales de 2011 Venezuela contaba con una cartera de más de 25 mil millones en proyectos de desarrollo financiados por el China Development Bank. Algunas de las iniciativas bajo ese marco se localizan en territorio venezolano y otras en China.

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Book Review, The Final War: Avoiding It through a New Harmonic Society

Being distracted by the blitzkrieg onslaught of “news stories,” makes it quite easy to get distracted in this day and age. To name a few headlines from around the world sucking in people’s limited attention span we have –>

• Election season in the US, along with Hurricane Isaac and drought in much of the US heartland of farming
• Droughts in Russia and India as well, causing a rise in fear around the world of a possible repeat of the 2007-2008 food crisis.
• Eurozone Crisis, will the Eurozone survive? Will the PIGS be forced to leave? Etc…
• Talk of leadership change in Canada and a possible referendum on succession of the French Speaking regions.
• The beginning stages transition of power in China
• … and many more which deserve mention but as the title of this entry states, this is a book review, not a recap of Global News. You can tune into any 24/7 news station or open your chosen News App on your tablet or phone to be blitzed with more “global news.”

This entry is about a new book which has just hit the presses: The Final War: Avoiding It through a New Harmonic Society. Co-authored by Fernando Morote Solari (a military hero, expert in geopolitics, professor), Dr. Sofia Morote (his daughter and also a professor and expert in geopolitics), and a colleague of theirs Patricia Bowens McCarthy.

I am a professor at Dowling College (www.internationalprofessor.com), and I wrote this book in a team with my father Fernando Morote Solari (a military hero, expert in geopolitics, professor) and my colleague Patricia Bowens McCarthy.

The first part of the book discusses the role of several countries in a possible World War and why we may have one. The second part, discusses a way to impending a world war through creating a new Harmonic Society. The book also praises China president statements in the UN about Harmonious World, instead of dismissing them as US Media often does as simply political jargon.

The authors initially discuss the precarious and ongoing situations throughout the Middle East- Israel – Pakistan and finally how the emergence of China begins to factor in. It also encompasses Africa, Central and South America (Latin America), where Chinese interests are growing.  The authors asset that the projected confrontation can be avoided by The Law of Universal Harmony, which is undergirded by Judeo-Christian precepts, Eastern concepts and principles such as dynamic balance, static equilibrium, ascending and descending transformation, and synchronized movements. 

The goals are objects of Universal Harmony as discusses in the book are achievable when nations take ownership for development strategies, policies and programs.  In sum, The Final War: Avoiding It through a New Harmonic Society, reveals the realities of what a confrontation could mean for the world, and offers solutions and steps which can be taken to prevent. Overall a very worthwhile and interesting read for geopolitical intellectuals out there, specifically ones interested in transpacific relations.

The book is currently available through multiple mediums in both English and Spanish.  Please visit the home of the page of the book http://thefinalwar.net/ to learn how to purchase wither E-Book or hard copies ranging from $7 USD – $20 USD in price.