China’s Latin Leap

The global aspirations of the Peoples’ Republic of China have led to much discussion on a potential shift in international power and the dawn of an alternative, non-western order. Given its strategic location, economic structure and historical relations, Latin America plays a crucial role in this debate. Despite this, academic discussion on the implications of China’s rise on Latin American foreign policy has been relatively limited. The overarching objective of this thesis is to address this topic through a case study analysis. Mexico and Chile’s foreign policy is investigated by examining their position towards China on issues that have mattered to Chinese policymakers. Building on Scott Kastner’s (2016) framework, these issues include China’s bid for WTO market economy recognition, Taiwan, and Tibet. This thesis finds that China’s ability to influence the foreign policies of Latin American countries is mixed and is contingent on its ability to harness existing preference alignment. A congruence analysis, evaluating the explanatory strength of international relations theories commercial liberalism and neo realism, provided a theoretical framework to interpret this finding. It establishes that commercial liberalism gives a more comprehensive explanation of states’ behaviour towards China.