MERCOSUR and CELAC: South-South Cooperation between China and Latin America through trade and political agendas

Abstract

In the 21st century, the international community has witnessed two phenomena: i) the rise of the People's Republic of China as a global power and; ii) the institutionalization of South-South Cooperation as a preferred modality (of which China is a precursor) for the countries of the Global South. As a power, China has a well-defined economic-commercial and political agenda to relate to the world. From its end, South-South Cooperation is China’s default modality to deepen its relations with countries. Sino-Latin American relations follow this same dynamic both bilaterally and multilaterally. However, since Latin America is part of the Global South, its countries tend to be more representative to global powers when they have defined regional and multilateral agendas. Thus, the purpose of this article is to gather, through the relations of MERCOSUR and CELAC, the advancement of Latin American multilateral synergies in the face of the rise of China as a commercial and cooperation partner.