Mao's steps in Monroe's backyard: towards a United States-China hegemonic struggle in Latin America?

• Autor(a) principal: León-Manríquez,Jose
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Alvarez,Luis F.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista brasileira de política internacional (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-73292014000300009
• topic: China-Latin America relations; Latin America foreign affairs; US-Latin America relations

Contrary to what could be expected given the United States' historical hegemony of Latin America, growing Chinese influence in this region has not led to a dispute between China and the US. Despite activism of hard-line groups in the United States, both parties have faced the issue with noticeable pragmatism. This attitude could be explained by three variables: the US political negligence towards Latin America in the Post-Cold War, the focus of Sino-Latin American relations on economic rather than geopolitical or ideological affairs, and the scanty relevance of the region in the top priorities of overall Washington-Beijing relations.