Q&A
Matt Ferchen
{
"authors": [
"Matt Ferchen"
],
"type": "legacyinthemedia",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"Carnegie China"
],
"collections": [
"China and the Developing World",
"China’s Foreign Relations"
],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie China",
"programAffiliation": "",
"programs": [],
"projects": [
"Carnegie Oil Initiative"
],
"regions": [
"North America",
"South America",
"East Asia",
"China"
],
"topics": [
"Economy",
"Climate Change",
"Foreign Policy"
]
}
Source: Getty
In The Media
Is China's Latin America Strategy Changing Course?
China continues to view Venezuela as a key source of oil, but Beijing has also been strengthening its private and public energy partnerships with other Latin American countries.
By Matt Ferchen
Published on Jun 26, 2015
Source: Inter-American Dialogue
Inter-American Dialogue: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in late May made a four-nation tour of Latin America where a number of energy-sector deals were announced, including at least $7 billion in financing for Brazil’s struggling oil company, Petrobras, as well as an announcement that China’s BYD Co. will build a solar-panel factory in Brazil. How is China’s energy engagement with Latin America evolving? Is the Asian giant beginning to orient more toward Pacific Alliance countries and away from Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela, which have been the focus of most regional Chinese lending until now?
Matt Ferchen: China’s energy engagement with Latin America is likely to retain significant elements of current relationships while at the same time seeking to expand into new areas. China’s most significant and most problematic energy relationship in Latin America is with Venezuela, and this is unlikely to change. Despite the many problems of Venezuela’s oil sector, the country still maintains the world’s largest petroleum reserves, and China has built up a massive, if dysfunctional, loans-for-oil relationship with the country, which will be difficult for either side to unwind.China will also certainly seek to take advantage of low fossil fuel prices to gain further access to sources of oil and gas in its other Latin American energy partners like Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. At the same time, China is looking to expand the type and range of its energy cooperation with Latin America, including in alternative energy sources like solar and wind. Chinese companies have also been active in seeking electricity production and grid investment opportunities in the region, including in countries like Brazil and Chile.
As Chinese firms seek deeper energy ties to the Pacific Alliance, they will very likely be unable to leverage state-to-state financing deals like those established with Venezuela or Ecuador but instead will find more success through private investment or possibly new types of public-private partnerships.
About the Author
Matt Ferchen
Former Nonresident Scholar, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy
Ferchen specializes in China’s political-economic relations with emerging economies. At the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, he ran a program on China’s economic and political relations with the developing world, including Latin America.
- How China Is Reshaping International Development
- Why Unsustainable Chinese Infrastructure Deals Are a Two-Way StreetArticle
Matt Ferchen, Anarkalee Perera
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Europe
- Letter from the Editor: Europe Takes Two Steps Forward But One Step BackCommentary
As we close out another season of Strategic Europe, it is worth taking stock of the deep shifts underway.
Rym Momtaz
- Assessing Information Ecosystems: How Governments Can Get Ahead of Hybrid ThreatsPaper
The hybrid warfare landscape is evolving rapidly, leaving policymakers without clear strategies. To better inform their work in addressing emerging challenges, governments must dig deeper into the underlying dynamics at play.
Raluca Csernatoni, Alicia Wanless
- Taking the Pulse: Are the EU’s Watered-Down Russia Sanctions Better than None?Commentary
The EU had to compromise to adopt a twenty-first sanctions package against Russia, exposing growing cracks in the union’s resolve. Is this latest, weaker round worth it to keep pressure on Moscow?
Rym Momtaz, ed.
- Why Europe Must Take Charge of its Russia Diplomacy NowCommentary
Trump is distracted and Ukraine wants Europe to step up. The continent’s leaders must find their voice and assert it in talks with Russia.
Alissa de Carbonnel
- Why Russia Could Escalate Hybrid Warfare Against EuropeCommentary
Mounting economic strain and battlefield losses will not necessarily make the Kremlin less dangerous. They could instead push Moscow toward a more aggressive hybrid campaign designed to test NATO’s Eastern flank, exploit allied hesitation, and fracture European resolve.
Maksym Beznosiuk
