Time for a 'Belt and Sea Lane' for Latin America

President Xi Jinping will host dozens of world leaders on Sunday and Monday at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, as China's Belt and Road Initiative has seized world wide attention. Right after this important event, the Chinese government should take advantage of the major shifts in the Americas, look across the Pacific and launch a parallel effort: the "Belt and Sea Lane" initiative for China and Latin America (Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America).

Three recent seismic changes have dramatically affected Latin America. First, the economic links that China has developed over the past 13 years with South America. Second, the end of populism in this region. Third, the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, which will severely damage economic integration in the Americas, as shown by the recent demise of the US-led Trans-Pacific-Partnership agreement. Let us broadly review these three waves to understand the opportunity for China.

South America swayed from the "lost half decade" of 1998-2003, to the "golden decade" of 2004-14, and this change happened mainly because of China. South American nations are rich in minerals, energy and food, which China started buying at growing prices and in ever increasing volumes. China is the main purchaser and price driver for commodities; whether it is copper from Chile, soybeans from Argentina or Paraguay, iron ore and grains from Brazil, gold from Peru, beef from Uruguay, tin from Bolivia, oil from Venezuela and Ecuador, or coal from Colombia.