Framing and Claiming: Contemporary Globalization and “Going Out” in China's Rhetoric towards Latin America

Abstract

China's increasing, and increasingly visible, engagement in Latin America has led to a variety of analyses, many based on either international relations notions of realism or international political economy precepts of trade. Rather than seeing China's rhetoric on its relations with Latin America as fluff that conceals a harder reality, this article takes rhetoric seriously as a device of "framing and claiming": a way in which political elites in China interpret the fast-changing developing world and China's place in it. The article explores how political elites have understood the sources of China's own domestic development and then projected those notions on to other parts of the developing world, through earlier "fractal" logics of development whereby each state repeats one model of development in its own way and a currently dominant "division of labour" logic that posits one integrated model of development whereby complementarity and comparative advantage hold sway. The article concludes with a comparison of China's relations with Peru and Brazil, suggesting that China's bilateral relations with Brazil indicate a newer, emerging rhetoric of global partnership based on equality.

The Pitfalls of Using Foreign Direct Investment Data to Measure Chinese Multinational Enterprise Activity

“… 12 For those exploring Chinese investments in Latin America in particular, this creates a “critical issue” owing to the considerable volumes of Chinese FDI channelled to and from Caribbean tax havens (Dussel Peters 2013, 114). For further analysis of Chinese involvement in Latin America, see Strauss 2012; Armony and Strauss 2012; Armony 2012; Jenkins and de Freitas Barbosa 2012. …”

Are Peruvians Enticed by the “China Model”? Chinese Investment and Public Opinion in Peru

“…A Chinese delegation has also proposed significant infrastructure development in the country, such as a railroad which would link Piura in northern Peru and perhaps Brazil and other countries for mineral transport (EFE 2009). Strauss finds that Peruvian and Chinese elites mirror each other's rhetoric regarding contentious issues, emphasizing complementarity between the two economies while sidelining Peruvian workers and their complaints (Strauss 2012).…”

China’s Media Rhetoric: The Re-Framing of China’s Neocolonialism

“…In Africa, President Xi continually leverages the Chinese investments for economic dominance and resource exports, making China the world's largest net importer of many of African's fossil fuel resources (Dynamic, 2019). To professor of Chinese politics Julie Strauss (2012), the statistics that highlight China's international infrastructure support as being mutually beneficial only portray a part of the story. The trade partnerships remain imbalanced and unsustainable; "Not surprisingly, many Africans and Latin Americans are troubled by concerns over sectorial asymmetry in trade relations, as well as less tangible but nevertheless powerful perceptions of unevenness in influence, leverage and sheer scale" (Strauss, 2012).…”

“…To professor of Chinese politics Julie Strauss (2012), the statistics that highlight China's international infrastructure support as being mutually beneficial only portray a part of the story. The trade partnerships remain imbalanced and unsustainable; "Not surprisingly, many Africans and Latin Americans are troubled by concerns over sectorial asymmetry in trade relations, as well as less tangible but nevertheless powerful perceptions of unevenness in influence, leverage and sheer scale" (Strauss, 2012). The scrutiny of China's economic interventions poses a threat to the international acceptance of China's infrastructure projects.…”