It would appear that Africa is not the only continent "looking East" these days: Latin America likewise appears to be following suit.
Indeed, while the United States is preoccupied with other parts of the world (Latin America is currently not a major priority for the Obama administration), China is paying increasing attention to its international alliances, particularly in Africa and across Latin America. For starters, Chinese President Hu Jintao is embarking on his whistle-stop tour of Africa tomorrow, where he is expected to stress Sino-African energy relations and shore up African good sentiment. Just yesterday, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is likely to succeed Hu Jintao early next decade, left on a tour that will take him to Mexico, Jamaica, Columbia, Venezuela, and Brazil -- all nations eager to strengthen their ties with China. Annnd, elsewhere in the region, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu is paying official visits to Argentina, Ecuador, Barbados and the Bahamas from February 7-19. Whew. It's exhausting just writing about it.
No biggie, you say? Well recall that:
President Hu visited Latin America in November, stopping in to Cuba and Peru. And while Hu was rubbing elbows with most of the major Latin presidents at the APEC summit in Lima, China’s highest ranking military officer was elsewhere in South America on tour.
That officer, Xu Caihou, is vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the People’s Liberation Army. Only President Hu outranks Xu in the military hierarchy. On his trip in November, Xu toured military installations in Venezuela, Chile and Brazil and promised increased exchanges between the two regions.
Trade between Latin America and China has also grown 13-fold since 1995, from $8.4 billion to $100 billion in 2007. China is now the region's second biggest trade partner behind the United States, and is an official member of the Inter-American Development Bank, which has huge (huge!) implications for regional trade. Trade between China and Africa likewise reached an all-time high in 2008, effectively solidifying China's predominance in the continent. And let's not forget Beijing's ties with Russia and, of course, Iran.
So the world is indeed shrinking, and what was once America's playground is now China's playground, too.