China in Latin America Then and Now: A Systemic Constructivist Analysis of China’s Foreign Policy

Abstract

Examining China’s policy towards Latin America from 1949 to the present day, this article uncovers a puzzle about China in Latin America: while the guiding doctrine of China’s policy towards the region has never changed (i.e. “South–South Cooperation” on the basis of the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”), there is a difference in terms of its policy goal between then and now (i.e. a very revisionist and politically focused goal until the late 1970s as compared to a less revisionist and economically focused one today). Based on the theory of systemic constructivism, this article demonstrates that the change of the interactions between China and other countries in our world (from isolation and confrontation to engagement and interdependence) has changed China’s perception about the nature of the international system, as well as its identity and interests in the system, which in turn has changed its policy goal towards Latin America and the “Global South” in general.