At a time when Washington seeks to deepen its influence in Latin America through Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy, China’s bet in the region seems to be moving from an era of large loans and infrastructure to a more precise and strategic commitment, according to analysts.
Amid the clashes between the two powers over their influence in the region, doubts are growing about the future of the Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America, the economic and infrastructure cooperation strategy promoted by China that covers more than 20 countries in the region, focusing on transpacific connectivity, green energy, and maritime trade.
But Jieyu Zhang, researcher at the Department for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), defends Beijing’s initiative and points to Washington. In an interview with La Tercera during a seminar organized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in the capital of the Asian giant, the expert said that “the policies of the U.S. government constantly resort to economic coercion, diplomatic pressure, and the stigmatization of normal cooperation between China and Latin America.”
You have said that Latin America is a natural extension of the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road.” What role do Chilean ports play in the Belt and Road Initiative?
Chile is a key Latin American partner in the joint construction of the Belt and Road. Ports such as Valparaíso and Iquique are vital hubs for land and maritime connection between the transoceanic Pacific, forming a commercial logistics corridor between South America and Asia-Pacific, facilitating the exchange of agricultural products, minerals, and cold chain goods, promoting cooperation in smart and green ports, and contributing to South American regional interconnection and smooth trade between China and Latin America.
Why are projects like Bogotá’s metro line 1 or the ultra-high voltage transmission of Montaña Hermosa in Brazil considered part of the Belt and Road?
Both projects are based on the principle of joint consultation, shared construction, and mutual benefits and were awarded through open international tenders, results of the articulation of bilateral development strategies. The first addresses Colombia’s urban transport deficiencies and generates local jobs; the second builds a green energy transmission channel between northern and southern Brazil. Both respond to the objectives of infrastructure interconnection, improvement of popular welfare, and sustainability of the Belt and Road, and are listed in bilateral cooperation agendas.
You have also pointed out that the joint construction of the Belt and Road can better serve China’s development goals, such as its food and energy security. How can Beijing ensure that these objectives will not lead to eventual overexploitation of resources in Latin America?
China adheres to the principle of sustainable and green win-win cooperation regarding resources with Latin America. It agrees with Latin American countries on comprehensive ecological exploitation of minerals, requires Chinese companies to strictly respect local environmental regulations and assume ecological restoration responsibilities. Cooperation also focuses on deep transformation of the industrial chain and technology transfer to help Latin America extend its value chains, rejects simple resource extraction, and aligns with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
How does Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy affect the goals and investments of the Belt and Road in Latin America?
The policies of the U.S. government are imbued with Cold War zero-sum thinking, constantly resorting to economic coercion, diplomatic pressure, and stigmatization of normal cooperation between China and Latin America, artificially creating geopolitical confrontations and raising cooperation costs. However, cooperation between China and Latin America is based on equality and mutual benefit and responds to the real development needs of both parties, while Latin America’s awareness of autonomy continues to grow. U.S. interference cannot reverse the general trend of South-South cooperation, and China firmly opposes external forces interfering in normal bilateral economic and trade exchanges.
Does political instability and the rightward shift in several countries in the region put the Belt and Road at risk? Why?
In the short term, they generate political fluctuations and uncertainty in cooperation; in the long term, they cannot alter the pattern of highly complementary interests between China and Latin America. Regardless of whether governments are left or right, all have real demands for economic development, infrastructure improvement, and energy transition, and most countries maintain autonomous diplomacy without completely cutting cooperation with China. China adheres to the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs and maintains equitable communications with all governments to prudently promote project articulation.
Considering that Chile was the first Latin American country to sign an FTA with China, how much does this help our country attract more investments from the Asian giant? Do you see obstacles to Chinese projects in Chile with the new Kast government? I ask you about the submarine fiber optic cable project that Trump pressured not to be carried out.
Read more Greece: More than 11,100 hectares have been affected by fires northwest of Athens
The China-Chile Free Trade Agreement is the first free trade agreement between China and a Latin American country and has been updated. It broadly reduces tariffs, simplifies trade and investment procedures, provides stable institutional guarantees for Chinese investments, and continues to release investment dividends in mining, new energies, and the digital economy.
The Boric government decisively supported the joint construction of the Belt and Road, both countries signed a cooperation plan, and Chile welcomes Chinese participation in lithium, ports, and green hydrogen projects. There is no systematic obstruction; policy adjustments in individual sectors are a normal governance practice of a sovereign state, and both parties maintain regular and coordinated consultations.
The transoceanic submarine cable is a mutually beneficial digital interconnection project. The United States exerts unilateral pressure for geopolitical considerations to interfere with it. China respects Chile’s autonomous decision and is willing to deepen digital infrastructure cooperation with the country based on technological neutrality, opposing the politicization of ordinary communication projects.
Within the objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative, are any investments considered to enhance China’s access to lithium and strategic minerals in Chile?
The joint construction of the Belt and Road is not aimed at unilateral appropriation of resources; cooperation is based on two-way complementarity: Chile has abundant lithium resources but needs to upgrade its industrial chain, while China has comprehensive ecological refining and energy storage technology, as well as a broad market. Cooperation seeks to build a stable and mutually beneficial long-term supply chain, help Chile develop a high value-added lithium battery industry, and achieve a common victory in the energy transition, fully respecting Chile’s sovereignty over its resources.
Do you think what happened with the Chinese company Tianqi Lithium Corp. and its challenges to the agreement between Codelco and SQM could have effects on future Chinese investments in the mining sector in Chile?
The controversies correspond to commercial and legal conflicts within the market and legal framework of the host country, are individual cases, and cannot define the entirety of mining cooperation between China and Chile. China asks Chinese companies in Chile to operate according to the law, and at the same time expects Chile to offer a fair and non-discriminatory business environment to resolve differences through bilateral consultations.
Chile’s policy of nationalizing the lithium industry is the exercise of its economic sovereignty, something China fully respects. Chinese companies will adapt to new local regulations and focus their efforts on high value-added sectors such as lithium salt refining, green hydrogen, and technological research, to continue expanding new avenues of diversified ecological mining cooperation.
How much do you think the rise of resource nationalism in Latin America affects China’s interests?
Resource sovereignty belongs to the peoples of Latin American countries, and China fully respects their autonomous adjustments of resource policies. In the short term, tightening investment rules in some sectors generates adaptation costs; in the medium and long term, both parties can innovate new cooperation models such as public-private partnerships or technological participations to open new cooperation spaces based on the complementarity of industrial chains. Resource nationalism will not interrupt the general basis of mutually beneficial cooperation.
How does China respond to the narrative of critics of the Belt and Road Initiative who warn that many projects lack transparency and that Chinese investments may pose a “debt trap,” especially for developing countries?
The so-called “debt trap” is a narrative fabricated by the United States and Western countries without any factual basis. Chinese financing and investment are governed by market principles and maximum transparency: all contracts are negotiated fairly by both parties with full publicity, without attached political conditions, and debts or abusive clauses are never imposed. Multilateral financial institutions are the main source of debt for developing countries.
China has published guiding financing principles for the Belt and Road and a debt sustainability analysis framework, and actively promotes project information disclosure at all stages. All cooperation projects generate local jobs, improve infrastructure and popular welfare; the governments and peoples of partner countries are the best judges, and the facts themselves refute the corresponding defamatory comments.
Read more Cuba suffers a new total blackout hours after restoring electricity service in much of the island
