Ibero-American Experts See an Optimistic 2020 Through the Belt and Road Initiative

Dec. 31, 2019 (EIRNS)—Several Ibero-American China experts and watchers, in year-end interviews with Xinhua, see a hopeful future for the region in 2020 through expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative. Experts from Cuba, Colombia, Chile and Brazil pointed to China’s emphasis on mutual respect and non-intervention as the basis for expanded cooperation.

Juan Angel Cordero, who runs Cuba’s International Policy Research Center (CIPE), said that he sees China having a much more active role in the region’s economic transformation, but also advancing in the area of technological cooperation. “The key element in 2019 was China’s invitation to keep expanding the Belt and Road project to Latin America, which will deepen in 2020,” he said.

Colombian journalist and economist Enrique Posada told Xinhua he’s confident that “the Belt and Road Initiative will have a positive impact on China-Latin American relations over the next decade.” As director of the Asia-Pacific Observatory and Confucius Institute at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Posada told Xinhua “I see the Belt and Road as a megaproject of tremendous reach; as President Xi Jinping says, ‘Latin America is the natural extension of the Silk Road.’ ”

University of Chile political analyst Guillermo Holzmann stressed that China-Latin America relations are based on pragmatism, in which “win-win” becomes a reality for both parties. China doesn’t try to impose a model, he said, but is rather primarily focused on environment, fighting corruption and industrialization. There’s no pressure, no interference—only “establishing a friendly environment to advance in areas in which China is interested—consolidating its plans for industrialization by 2025 and the Belt and Road by 2030.” Brazilian analyst Elias Jabbour of the Rio de Janeiro State University concludes, “China has the economic and financial conditions to bring prosperity to Latin America. China is without a doubt, the motor of the world economy.”