South America turning into China’s backyard

#China’s total trade with #SouthAmerica has grown 26-fold over the last two decades. The trend hammers home how the #UnitedStates has lost ground in a region long seen as its backyard.

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[gleitsonSalles]

i'm from Brazil and i have some relations with the automobile sector. And I can say that China is saving this sector here. When Daimler stopped making cars here, China's GWM bought and expanded the plant, with the first vehicles to start assemble in 2023. When Ford closed its plants here, BYD bought two plants. There is no going back.

[rafaelrmaier]

As a Brazilian, I would like to make some comments.
First, I dont like the title. We are no one's backyard. This is precisely the notion which is leading much of Latam's public opinion to go against the West. We are not colonies, or backyards, or anything of the sort. These dictatorships you showed on the video were all propped up by the CIA, disrespecting the sovereignity of our nations and throwing us into a human rights and economic crisis which is still felt to this day.
Second, if we trade with China, it is because it is benefitial to us. The US and the UE are in direct competition with Brazil's soy exports, for instance, and have blocked us from trade deals with their respective economic blocks. Much of US industry is leaving Brazil, and chinese industries are taking their place. Why would we oppose that?
Third, to wrap everything up, I would like to say that we are only acting in our own best interests. Ideologies and cultural ties are all well and good but it is money that makes the world go round, and China is simply offering us a better deal than the West.

[naeje]

It's worthwhile to point out the growing influence of China in South America, but this clearly reflects the failure of the United States to take care of the folks in it's so call backyard. Those investments could have easily been from the US. But the attitude of the US towards south America is often condescending, and many other adjectives could be use to describe this attitude. So China is filling the void created by the US and in some respect the EU. The US will have to deal with the results of this, good or bad.

[brenomuniz]

The problem is already in the title of the video, when we are treated with countries to be influenced (backyard) and not as commercial partners, the relationship will continue with distrust and without alignment

[Drunkieman]

China is simply occupying the spaces that US and UE do not.

As Mujica said, South America wants to do business with US and UE due to cultural ties, but they don't seem to want to make business with our continent. It is only logical that South America trades with China (or anyone else that wants to get things done).

[TheGoldenEagle]

As a Mexican I don’t think the Americas doing business with China is any worst than with the U.S. cause the past hundred years have been horrible all across the board.

[juanDE]

100 years with the US havnt been so great. We need a change.

[ArturoStojanoff]

Honestly we're tired of being anyone's backyard, and as you said, China is the only major power that doesn't just talk the talk but also walks the walk and offers tangible benefits.

[yuriyu]

As a peruvian, I can tell you that I think we have already been mistreated by the west too much, and are probably glad to see alternatives in the market: China, Russia, India, etc. Of course, only time will tell.
I can tell you something that was popular some years ago, probably a decade, (and is probaly still the case, I left Peru 3 years ago) when the west was going through a crisis: "Since we are also teaming up with China, the issues of the west affects us less now, and we are glad for that."

[franciscoborquezk.]

Hi, I'm from Chile and I have to make a correction:

The Paranal Hill Observatory (Observatorio Cerro Paranal) is located south of Antofagasta, and is operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). China has nothing to do with it.

[subnet]

Minor correction: the Sombrero space complex is not a launch complex, only a ground station for tracking. No satellite has been launched from there.

[dviannamaricato]

"For authoritarian China, South America is also a unique place. A place with a deep history of like-minded authoritarianism." - Says it while showing USA-backed dictators. Is this video a joke or an insult? It may be the last Caspian Report video i'll ever see.

[rbddet]

I wouldnt go as far as saying Latam is becoming China's backyard. China's relatioship with these countries is different, more of a hands off aproach than the US A's "my way or the highway" attitude.

[lordwind]

Personally I think it’s a very imperialist mindset to consider countries to be someone’s backyards simply for making deals with them. It’s the same story with Africa, this is subtly saying those countries are naïve and don’t know what’ best for them.

[nromk]

For a backyard China sure is treating us nicely by following our environmental policies, listening to local populations to the point of canceling projects instead upsetting the locals. Like not even Canadian or US business have the decency to leave when they've not wanted.

We're not neighbors, we're partners with China.

[Jondiceful]

You could do an entire episode on America's complicated relationship with Latin America. Short version- there are good reasons for Latin America to be at best skeptical of American influence and could be forgiven for any hostility at the idea.

[davidblair]

The U.S. and E.U. have taken their neighborhoods for granted for too long. If China outcompetes us in Africa and South America, it’s no one’s fault but our own. The E.U. is (just barely) starting to recognize that they need to take Africa and Western Asia seriously, perhaps aided by a lack of great-power hubris. The U.S., on the other hand, continues to employ condescension in place of collaboration.

[Jon.A.Scholt]

The US and West need to acknowledge that China is dedicating as much time and effort, if not more, into their soft power as they are their military. And it is much more difficult and complex in how to answer it.

[Red_Hood]

South America is no one's backyard. China is at least helping the countries develop while the US have done nothing

[Celis.C]

If 'the West' takes issue with China's plans for mostly mutually beneficial trade agreements, then perhaps they should've been more mutually beneficial with their own 'business' down south. If a better offer than exploitation comes along, then you can't fault these countries for taking it.
And perhaps these debts will take more than a generation to pay off, but for now it seems that the benefits outweigh any potential downsides.