Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:27:51.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chinese Economic Statecraft and U.S. Hegemony in Latin America: An Empirical Analysis, 2003–2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Francisco Urdinez ,
Fernando Mouron ,
Luis L. Schenoni  and
Amâncio J. de Oliveira
Francisco Urdinez
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Studies in International Negotiations and University of São Paulo—King's College London joint degree program. francisco.urdinez@kcl.ac.uk; fernando.mouron@kcl.ac.uk
Fernando Mouron
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Studies in International Negotiations and University of São Paulo—King's College London joint degree program. francisco.urdinez@kcl.ac.uk; fernando.mouron@kcl.ac.uk
Luis L. Schenoni
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame. lschenon@nd.edu
Amâncio J. de Oliveira
Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Studies in International Negotiations and University of São Paulo. amancioj@usp.br
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

If one interprets China's sizable rise in Latin America as an unprecedented phenomenon, it follows that the concurrent story of declining U.S. influence in the region is an event hastily acknowledged at best and ignored at worst. In this article, we ask whether Chinese economic statecraft in Latin America is related to the declining U.S. hegemonic influence in the region and explore how. To do so we analyze foreign direct investments, bank loans, and international trade from 2003 to 2014, when China became a major player in the region. We use data from 21 Latin American countries, and find that an inversely proportional relationship exists between the investments made by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), bank loans, manufacturing exports, and the U.S. hegemonic influence exerted in the region. In other words, Beijing has filled the void left by a diminished U.S. presence in the latter's own backyard.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , Winter 2016 , pp. 3 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alesina, Alberto, and Dollar, David. 2000. Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why? Journal of Economic Growth 5, 1: 33–63.Google Scholar
Amighini, Alessia, Rabellotti, Roberta, and Sanfilippo, Marco. 2013. Do Chinese State-Owned and Private Enterprises Differ in Their Internationalization Strategies? China Economic Review 27, 1: 312–25.Google Scholar
Neto, Amorim, Octavio, , and Malamud, Andrés. 2015. What Determines Foreign Policy in Latin America? Systemic versus Domestic Factors in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, 1946–2008. Latin American Politics and Society 57, 4 (Winter): 1–27.Google Scholar
Armony, Ariel C., and Julia, C. Strauss. 2012. From Going out (zou chuqu) to Arriving in (desembarco): Constructing a New Field of Inquiry in China-Latin America Interactions. China Quarterly 209, 1: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, David Allen. 1985. Economic Statecraft. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, Nathaniel, and Katz, Jonathan. 1995. What to Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data. American Political Science Review 89, 3: 634–47.Google Scholar
Bingwen, Zheng, Hongbo, Sun, and Yunxia, Yue. 2011. The Present Situation and Prospects of China-Latin American Relations: a Review of the History since 1949. In China-Latin American Relations: Review and Analysis, vol. 1, ed. Shuangrong, H.. London/Beijing: Path International/Social Sciences Academic Press. 1–20.Google Scholar
Blasier, Cole. 1985. The Hovering Giant: U.S. Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America, 1910–1985. Revised ed. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Buckley, Peter J., Clegg, Jeremy, Cross, Adam, Liu, Xin, Voss, Hinrich, and Zheng, Ping. 2007. The Determinants of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment. Journal of International Business Studies 38, 4: 499–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buzan, Barry, and Cox, Michael. 2013. China and the U.S.: Comparable Cases of “Peaceful Rise”? Chinese Journal of International Politics 6, 2: 109–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castañeda, Jorge. 2006. Latin America's Left Turn. Foreign Affairs 85, 3: 28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Steve. 2007. China, the U.S. and the Power-transition Theory: A Critique. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cheung, Yin-Wong, and Qian, Xingwang. 2009. Empirics of China's Outward Direct Investment. Pacific Economic Review 14, 3: 312–41.Google Scholar
Collins, Neil, and Gottwald, Joern-Carsten. 2014. Market Creation by Leninist Means: the Regulation of Financial Services in the People's Republic of China. Asian Studies Review 38, 4: 620–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell-Smith, Gordon. 1976. Latin America in the Foreign Relations of the United States. Journal of Latin American Studies 8, 1: 137–50.Google Scholar
Domínguez, Jorge I. 2006. China's Relations with Latin America: Shared Gains, Asymmetric Hopes. Working paper. Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue, June. http://archives.thedialogue.org/PublicationFiles/china.pdf. Accessed April 1, 2016.Google Scholar
Dreher, Axel, Sturm, Jan-Egbert, and Vreeland, James. 2009. Development Aid and International Politics: Does Membership on the Un Security Council Influence World Bank Decisions? Journal of Development Economics 88, 1: 1–18.Google Scholar
Drezner, Daniel. 1999. The Sanctions Paradox: Economic Statecraft and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, John H. 1999. Trade, Location of Economic Activity, and the Multinational Enterprise: a Search for an Eclectic Approach. In The Internationalization of the Firm, ed. Buckley, Peter J. and Ghauri, Pervez N.. London: International Thomson Business Press. 61–79.Google Scholar
Easterly, William. 2005. What Did Structural Adjustment Adjust? the Association of Policies and Growth with Repeated Imf and World Bank Adjustment Loans. Journal of Development Economics 76, 1: 1–22.Google Scholar
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). 2015. Inversión extranjera directa hacia la región cayó 16% en 2014 tras un decenio de fuertes alzas. Comunicado de prensa. May 27. http://www.cepal.org/es/comunicados/inversion-extranjera-directa-hacia-la-region-cayo-16-en-2014-tras-un-decenio-de-fuertes. Accessed May 15, 2016.Google Scholar
Ferchen, Matt. 2011. China-Latin America Relations: Long-term Boon or Short-term Boom? Chinese Journal of International Politics 4, 1: 55–86.Google Scholar
Ferchen, Matt 2013. Whose China Model Is It Anyway? the Contentious Search for Consensus. Review of International Political Economy 20, 2: 390–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkel, Steven E., Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal, and Mitchell, A. Seligson. 2007. The Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990–2003. World Politics 59, 3: 404–39.Google Scholar
Flores-Macías, Gustavo A., and Sarah, E. Kreps. 2013. The Foreign Policy Consequences of Trade: China's Commercial Relations with Africa and Latin America, 1992–2006. Journal of Politics 75, 2: 357–71.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Kevin P., Koleski, Katherine, and Irwin, Amos. 2012. The New Banks in Town: Chinese Finance in Latin America. Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue.Google Scholar
García-Herrero, Alicia, and Santabárbara, Daniel. 2007. Does China Have an Impact on Foreign Direct Investment to Latin America? China Economic Review 18, 3: 266–86.Google Scholar
Gilpin, Robert. 1976. The Political Economy of the Multinational Corporation; Three Contrasting Perspectives. American Political Science Review 70, 1: 184–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilpin, Robert 1983. War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hakim, Peter. 2006. Is Washington Losing Latin America? Foreign Affairs 85, 1: 39–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikenberry, G. John. 2009. Liberal Internationalism 3.0: America and the Dilemmas of Liberal World Order. Perspectives on Politics 7, 1: 71–87.Google Scholar
Inter-American Dialogue. n.d. China-Latin America Finance Database. http://thedialogue.org/map_list. Accessed July 11, 2015.Google Scholar
International Trade Centre (ITC). 2015. Trade Map. Trade statistics for international business development. http://www.trademap.org Google Scholar
Jakobson, Linda, and Knox, Dean. 2010. New Foreign Policy Actors in China. Policy paper. Stockholm: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. http://books.sipri.org/files/PP/SIPRIPP26.pdf Google Scholar
Jenkins, Rhys, Dussel Peters, Enrique, and Mesquita Moreira, Mauricio. 2008. The Impact of China on Latin America and the Caribbean. World Development 36, 2: 235–53.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert. 1984. After Hegemony. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keshk, Omar, Pollins, Brian, and Reuveny, Rafael. 2004. Trade Still Follows the Flag: the Primacy of Politics in a Simultaneous Model of Interdependence and Armed Conflict. Journal of Politics 66, 4: 1155–79.Google Scholar
Kilby, Cristopher. 2009. The Political Economy of Conditionality: an Empirical Analysis of World Bank Loan Disbursements. Journal of Development Economics 89, 1: 51–61.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation. American Journal of Political Science 44, 2: 347–61.Google Scholar
Kirshner, Jonathan. 2008. The Consequences of China's Economic Rise. In China's Ascent: Power, Security, and the Future of International Politics, ed. Ross, Robert S. and Feng, Zhu. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 238–59.Google Scholar
Kolstad, Ivar, and Wiig, Arne. 2012. What Determines Chinese Outward Fdi? Journal of World Business 47, 1: 26–34.Google Scholar
Kotschwar, Barbara. 2014. China's Economic Influence in Latin America. Asian Economic Policy Review 9, 2: 202–22.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen. 1976. State Power and the Structure of International Trade. World Politics 28, 3: 317–47.Google Scholar
Laurence, Felicity. 2011. Global Food Crisis: China Land Deal Causes Unease in Argentina. The Guardian, June 1. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2011/jun/01/china-land-deal-unease-argentina-agribusiness Google Scholar
Layne, Christopher. 2008. China's Challenge to U.S. Hegemony. Current History 107, 705: 13–18.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Way, Lucan. 2010. Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lim, Yves-Heng. 2015. How (Dis)Satisfied Is China? a Power Transition Theory Perspective. Journal of Contemporary China 24, 92: 280–97.Google Scholar
Luo, Yadong, Xue, Qiuzhi, and Han, Binjie. 2010. How Emerging Market Governments Promote Outward Fdi: Experience from China. Journal of World Business 45, 1: 68–79.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal. 2014. Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malamud, Andrés, and Schenoni, Luis. 2015. Neo-Liberal Institutionalism and Neo-Functionalism in Latin American Security Studies. In Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security. London: Routledge. 44–55.Google Scholar
Mastanduno, Michael. 2009. System Maker and Privilege Taker. World Politics 61, 1: 121–54.Google Scholar
Mazzuca, Sebastián. 2013. The Rise of Rentier Populism. Journal of Democracy 24, 2: 108–22.Google Scholar
Mearsheimer, John. 2001. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Mearsheimer, John 2010. The Gathering Storm: China's Challenge to U.S. Power in Asia. Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, 4: 381–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesquita Moreira, Mauricio. 2007. Fear of China: Is There a Future for Manufacturing in Latin America? World Development 35, 3: 355–76.Google Scholar
Mouron, Fernando, and Urdinez, Francisco. 2014. A Comparative Analysis of Brazil's Foreign Policy Drivers towards the Usa: Comment on Amorim Neto 2011. Brazilian Political Science Review 8, 2: 94–115.Google Scholar
Ng, Linda, and Tuan, Chyau. 2001. Fdi Promotion Policy in China: Governance and Effectiveness. World Economy 24, 8: 1051–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolan, Peter. 2014. Globalisation and Industrial Policy: the Case of China. World Economy 37, 6: 747–64.Google Scholar
Odgaard, Liselotte. 2013. Peaceful Coexistence Strategy and China's Diplomatic Power. Chinese Journal of International Politics 6, 3: 233–72.Google Scholar
Organski, Abramo. 1958. World Politics. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Paz, Gonzalo. 2012. China, the United States and Hegemonic Challenge in Latin America: an Overview and Some Lessons from Previous Instances of Hegemonic Challenge in the Region. China Quarterly 209, 1: 18–34.Google Scholar
Roett, Riordan, and Paz, Gonzalo, eds. 2008. China's Expansion into the Western Hemisphere: Implications for Latin America and the United States. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Sauvant, Karl P., and Zitian Chen, Victor. 2014. China's Regulatory Framework for Outward Foreign Direct Investment. China Economic Journal 7, 1: 141–63.Google Scholar
Schoultz, Lars. 1987. National Security and United States Policy Toward Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweller, Randall, and Pu, Xiaoyu. 2011. After Unipolarity: China's Vision of International Order in an Era of U.S. Decline. International Security 36, 1: 41–72.Google Scholar
Scissors, Derek. 2011. Chinese Outward Investment: More Opportunity than Danger. Heritage Foundation Backgrounder 2579. July 13. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/chinese-outward-investment-more-opportunity-than-danger. Accessed December 2014.Google Scholar
Strüver, Georg. 2014. “Bereft of Friends”? China's Rise and Search for Political Partners in South America. Chinese Journal of International Politics 7, 1: 117–51.Google Scholar
United Nations. Statistics Division. n.d. Un Comtrade. United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. http://comtrade.un.org/db/ Google Scholar
Urdinez, Francisco, and Masiero, Gilmar. 2015. China and the Wto: Will the Market Economy Status Make Any Difference after 2016? Chinese Economy 48, 2: 155–72.Google Scholar
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants: Obligations and Loan Authorizations, July 1, 1945—September 30, 2014 (Greenbook). Various dates. https://explorer.usaid.gov/reports-greenbook.html Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). n.d. U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: Balance of Payments and Direct Investment Position Data. http://www.bea.gov/international/di1usdbal.htm. Accessed December 2014.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State. Bureau of International Organization Affairs. n.d. Data on Un General Assembly votes. http://www.state.gov/p/io Google Scholar
Wang, Hongying, and French, Erik. 2014. China in Global Economic Governance. Asian Economic Policy Review 9, 2: 254–71.Google Scholar
Wilson, Sven E., and Butler, Daniel. 2007. A Lot More to Do: the Sensitivity of Time-Series Cross-Section Analyses to Simple Alternative Specifications. Political Analysis 15, 2: 101–23.Google Scholar
World Bank. n.d. Trade flow data. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator Google Scholar
Yazar, Orhan Hilmi. 2015. Regulation with Chinese Characteristics: Deciphering Banking Regulation in China. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 44, 2: 135–66.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Urdinez et al. supplementary material

Appendix

Download Urdinez et al. supplementary material(File)
File 24.2 KB