China in Latin America: political and economic implications of Beijing's involvement in the region

China's ascendance is likely to reshape not only the world economy, but also its politics; its impact on Latin America's international relations is indirect as well as direct. From Beijing's point of view, as mentioned several times in the essay, the region will continue to occupy a low level in its list of priorities, for a number of causes:
The main goal of the PRC's foreign policy is to guarantee itself a peaceful development, meaning a steady economic growth in a peaceful environment. Latin America, for obvious geographical reasons, poses no direct threat to China's security to begin with.
Nor is any war in the region on the horizon, no matter how strained relations among countries (i.e., Colombia and Venezuela) might be; should that remote eventuality occur, it would hardly affect Chinese assets, and there wouldn't be much China could and would be willing to do to avoid the conflict. In this sense, Latin America as a whole is not even nearly as relevant as individual high-risk countries like North Korea, Iran or Sudan.

To be sure, bilateral trade has boomed in the 21st Century; but it still represents a minor part of China's overall commerce flows, and most of the commodities Latin American sell can be retrieved and purchased elsewhere.
The issue of Taiwan's international diplomatic recognition, which explains Beijing's interest for Central America and the Caribbean, will ultimately be solved in talks between the PRC and the ROC; the only Hemispheric country that could play some role in the dispute is naturally the United States.
Last but not least, China's engagement with Latin America will never be totally independent from China's relations with the United States.

However, the PRC will court Latin America's support on some issues and, for the very global nature of its rise, will most likely not discard the region at all. Governments in Latin America have appreciated the growing influence of China in the international affairs, and its growing involvement in the area: it came at a time when the region's traditional main interlocutor - the United States - was looking elsewhere, and it could now act as a formidable counterweight just against Washington, as the presence of PRC's interests and the availability of a "China option" add bargaining power to the countries of the region. Broader goals related to the issue of international governance might also be shared.