Bolivia to buy Chinese jets to battle drugs reports Bloomberg

Coca Leaves Being Dryed

Bolivia plans to buy six Chinese light military aircraft worth nearly $58 million to fight drug traffickers in the world’s No. 3 cocaine producer, leftist President Evo Morales said on Saturday.

“Last week we issued a supreme decree to … acquire six K-8 aircraft from China,” said Morales in a speech in La Paz to mark the 52nd anniversary of the Bolivian air force.

Morales said his government decided to acquire the K-8, a jet trainer that can be used as a light attack aircraft, after the U.S. government blocked the country from buying similar planes from the Czech Republic.

Click here to read the complete article from Reuters

Read Full Post »

China’s Sinohydro to build hydroelectric project in Ecuador

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa signed a contract today with Chinese company Sinohydro Corportation.  The company will be in charge of building the Coca-Codo-Sinclair hydroelectric project along Ecuador’s Amazon river.

The project is valued at $2 billion usd and will become Ecuadors largest hydroelectric facility.  Once completed, the hydroelectric facility will be capable of meeting 75% of the country’s total power supply, reports Xinhua.

According to this Xinhua article, the Export-Import Bank of China will cover 85 percent of the project’s total cost, with the remaining 15 percent covered by the Ecuadorian government.

President Correa said that “the launching of this project would be a historical event as it represents one of the biggest foreign investments in Ecuador and will create about 4,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs in Ecuador.”

Read Full Post »

Peruvian Micro-Entrepreneurs head to China

It’s been awhile since CSA last ventured into the world of MicroFinance.  Well today some news caught my attention.

About sixteen Peruvian Micro-Entrepreneurs (if that’s the correct term to call them) from various sectors will travel to Guangzhou, China to participate in the 106^th Guangzhou Import and Export fair.  With a total of 209 countries in attendance, and thousands of exhibitors, this is a big deal for these small Peruvian businesses.

I question if these business are truly worthy of being called the products of micro-finance.  I hope that they are, but my gut is telling me it’s quite possible corruption and classic South American favoritism probably led the Peruvian government to carefully handpick a few to send to China.

Ministra de la Producción, Mercedes Aráoz, inauguró Feria de Beneficios y Oportunidades de Foncopés en IPAE. Foto: ANDINA/Norman Córdova.

On the other hand, if they are truly small micro-enterprises which earned this trip to China through participating in a micro-finance program of some sort, this would be a case and point example of the potential of micro-finance institutions to empower the poor with the tools they need to succeed.

If you can read Spanish please click here to access the article which served the basis for this post.

Read Full Post »

Sino-Brazilian Cooperation

Loro Horta presents a good analysis of the growth and future direction of Sino-Brazilian Cooperation.

The dragon and anaconda: China, Brazil and power balance in Americas

By Loro Horta
Published on September 16, 2009

The Sino-Brazilian strategic partnership signed nearly two decades ago has, in recent years, begun to produce some impressive results. In 2007 trade between the two giants reached US$29 billion and grew to an impressive $43 billion by the end of 2008. This expanding economic relationship is being complemented with a corresponding growth in their political and diplomatic partnership.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) shakes hands with his

Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after

signing thejoint communique at the Great Hall ofthe People

Beijing, capital of China, May 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Both countries have cooperated in very sensitive areas such as space technology, aviation and military-related technologies. Since the early 1990s the two countries have launched three jointly-developed satellites and are co-producing a medium-range commercial jetliner. American defence and intelligence officials have expressed concern over such ties, claiming that Brazil was passing to China sensitive satellite and remote sensing technology in exchange for Chinese ballistic missile know-how.

Brazil is indeed a very important source of technology for a China that has been restricted by arms sanctions by the West following Tiananmen. Brazilian weapons have reached as far as Southeast Asia, when Malaysia acquired 18 Astros multiple rocket launchers (MRLS), causing concern in Singapore in the early years of the current decade.

Brazil is not just a major military technology provider, but also a supplier of civilian products. This was clearly demonstrated in August 2007 when it signed a $1.3 billion contract to sell commercial jetliners to Lufthansa and Japan Airlines.

An example of the closeness of Sino-Brazilian military ties came in May this year when Brazilian defence minister Nelson Jobim announced that Chinese fighter pilots would be trained on the Brazilian aircraft carrier Sao Paulo. Jobim’s announcement came shortly after a senior Chinese military official publicly stated Beijing’s intention to acquire an aircraft carrier in the near future. Bearing in mind that very few countries in the world possess an aircraft carrier and that they are all close US allies, the Brazilian gesture no doubt attests to the importance of Brazil as a source of military technology and know-how.

The energy sector is fast emerging as one of the most important areas of cooperation between the two nations. Brazilian national oil company Petrobras and China have signed several agreements for the construction of various sections of a massive $6 billion pipeline to transport Brazil’s growing energy exports to China. In May this year the Chinese government signed a loan of $10 billion to Petrobras to assist it in developing the newly discovered Tupi oil fields.

In exchange, Brazil is to supply Chinese state-owned Sinopec with 200,000 barrels of oil a day for the next 10 years – nearly 7 per cent of China’s oil needs. Petrobras is also reported to be transferring deep-water drilling technology to Chinese state-owned companies – an area where China has been rather unsuccessful. Most of its oil activities in China and throughout the world are on shore or in relatively shallow waters.

Click here to read the full analysis

Read Full Post »

Studies to Eliminate Dollar in Brazil-China Trade Going Slow

China and Brazil have created a work group to study the possibility of implementation of a bilateral trade program in their respective currencies, in replacement of the North American dollar, said a source in the Central Bank of Brazil.

“The negotiations are still in an initial phase, with a work group having been created with representatives of Brazil and China, who also met during the G-20 summit, in London,” explained a source.

The next step should be the visit of a Central Bank of Brazil delegation to China, “despite there being no forecast as to when it may come true,” said the source.

The work group should analyze the “results to be reached through an agreement that China recently established with Argentina” – the first country in South America to benefit from trade exchanges in the same currency with the Asian giant and with whom Brazil has also been developing the same program since September 2008.

The Central Banks of China and Brazil are also going to develop a “study of the potential bilateral trade volume to analyze the possibility of an agreement.”

Click here to read the full article

Written by Newsroom
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
[Source] – brazzilmag.com

a2a_linkname=”Studies to Eliminate Dollar in Brazil-China Trade Going Slow”;a2a_linkurl=”http://chinasouthamerica.blogspot.com/2009/09/studies-to-eliminate-dollar-in-brazil.html”;

Read Full Post »

China, Costa Rica make progress in free trade talks – AFP

SAN JOSE — China and Costa Rica concluded the fourth round of negotiations in Beijing aimed at reaching a free trade agreement, according to the foreign trade ministry.

Costa Rica — which gave up six decades of ties with Taiwan in favor of China two years ago — is the third Latin American country to negotiate a free trade deal with China, after Chile and Peru.

In the round of talks that ended Thursday agreements were reached for more than 90 percent of each country’s exports, the trade ministry said.

Costa Rican exports include coffee, bananas, fruit juices, cigars, pork, beef and chicken, said Costa Rican chief negotiator Fernando Ocampo…

Click here to access the full article from AFP

Read Full Post »

China’s Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean – MercoPress Analysis

[Source] — MercroPress

On November 5, 2008, the Chinese government released a policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, as it had previously done so for Europe in 2003 and for Africa in 2006.

Although it may not come as a huge surprise that Latin America is the most recent region for which China has formally spelled out its foreign policy position, the region has been historically perceived as being under the United States’ sphere of influence. Perhaps the importance of the Chinese policy paper lies in the timing of its release. The release of the paper deliberately coincided with the unfolding of the current financial crisis; this congruence of events has allowed China to expand its influence in this somewhat neglected region without attracting any lasting venom from the U.S. China’s policy paper formally evidences the importance of Latin America and the Caribbean as part of China’s growth plan for its long-term strategic interests. Most of all, this includes access to raw materials as well as a plethora of natural resources, the infiltration of new foreign markets, the reduction of diplomatic support for the Republic of Taiwan, and the strengthening of Beijing political standing on the global stage through strong alliances cemented with the developing world.
The policy paper’s general context

The policy paper explicitly states its main objective is to “clarify the goals of China’s policy in this region, outline the guiding principles for future cooperation […] and sustain the sound, steady and all-around growth of China’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.” In the economic realm, China expresses an interest in investing in energy, mineral resources, forestry, fishing and agriculture, areas important to expanding China’s productivity. Additionally, the Chinese government seems to show interest in infrastructure projects not directly related to its economy, albeit essential in the transportation of natural resources, and proposes to fund these projects in order to be perceived as a partner in development. Furthermore, China expresses its desire to increase military diplomacy and sale of equipment to the region. Although many of the report’s statements are merely rhetoric and general in scope, the paper helps formalize China’s economic, diplomatic and military ties with Latin America, which were first proposed by then President of China Jiang Zemin in 2001.

The policy paper was released against the backdrop of the current financial crisis and the corresponding economic hardships that have severely hit the U.S. and Europe. Its publication deliberately coincided with the emergency G-20 meeting to discuss the economic crisis that was about to take place in Washington. More importantly, it preceded Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Peru for the November 2008 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, at which he presented China’s foreign policy towards Latin America. This timing of the paper’s release was especially important for the countries seeking to diversify their export markets and decrease their dependence on declining Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the US and Europe. With the vast foreign reserves accumulated by China –which totalled US $1.95 trillion in December 2008– the region had valid reasons to closely follow the summit’s developments.

To access this article in full you must register for MecroPress’s website.

Once you register, click here for a direct link to this article

Read Full Post »

China becomes L America’s privileged partner: ECLAC official

Xinhua news reports,

China has become a “privileged partner of Latin America,” and the region needs to define a joint strategy to develop its ties with China, an official of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said Wednesday.

The “post- (economic) crisis will find a bigger and more important China than the one it has been in the world economy,” said Osvaldo Rosales, ECLAC’s director for international trade and integration.

Citing the World Trade Organization’s report on Tuesday that China had displaced Germany in the first half of 2009 as a leading exporter, Rosales observed that “this has been reflected in its (China’s) growing relative presence in the world’s trade, mainly in Latin America.”

“The numbers of destinations and exporters show that China has become a privileged partner of Latin America,” Rosales told Xinhua in an interview.

This was because the Chinese government had “already defined the strategy for Latin America in its white book,” Rosales explained, adding that the region needed to do the same.

Regarding bilateral trade relations, Rosales worried about Latin America’s export structure, which focused on a few products and natural resources. He called for a diversification of the export basket.

“Latin America is in some ways linked with China, the world economy’s engine of the 21st century, but it is doing that with an export structure from the 20th century,” Rosales observed.

Click here to read the full story from Xinhua

Read Full Post »

As promised… China steps up overseas investments in commodities

Aug 14, 2009 — State-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. buys Australia’s Felix Resources Ltd. for about A$3.5 billion ($2.9 billion), reports Bloomberg

Aug 13, 2009 — Sinochem Corp., China’s biggest chemicals trader, makes an offer to buy to buy Emerald Energy Plc for 532 million pounds ($881 million). Giving Sinochem Corp., access to oil fields in Syria and Colombia, reports Bloomberg

“The Chinese don’t have enough nickel, don’t have enough oil, and they don’t have enough copper. There’s a crisis coming. They are going around the world buying up what they can. They’re preparing for a rainy day.” Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings and the author of books including “Investment Biker” and “Adventure Capitalist”, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Read Full Post »

Newswire: China and Commodities in focus

China stops expansion projects in steel industry for three years – Xinhua

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Thursday announced a three-year moratorium on approvals of new expansion-related proposals in the iron and steel industry, as the government pledges to eliminate outdated capacity.

CISA stance hurts small steel mills – China Daily

China’s top negotiators in the bitter and protracted row over the price of iron ore seem destined never to agree – risking a loss of face that will raise questions about whether they are up to the job and who it is they are actually representing.

Their apparent refusal to compromise is damaging the competitiveness of smaller domestic steel mills, forcing them to buy from their larger counterparts, say analysts. The bigger firms have been content to pay whatever the spot price is for ore and pass on the premiums.

CNPC to speed up oil assets buy plan – Xiao Wan of eChinaCities

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s largest oil and gas producer, will speed up overseas acquisitions in regions such as Africa and South America this year, in a bid to boost China’s quest for energy security.

Coal mines to merge in new plan – China Daily

A large-scale restructuring of the coal industry in China’s major coal-producing province of Shanxi, starting at the end of this month, will reduce accidents and improve efficiency by shutting down small coal mines, officials said.

“The restructuring this time is the largest after years of adjusting the coal industry’s structure,” Miao Huanli, planning section director of Shanxi provincial coal bureau, said yesterday.

Read Full Post »