China's development is reshaping international cooperation as shown by its engagement with Latin America
Enshrined in the South-South cooperative principles, China-Latin American collaboration should be understood as a new version of international development cooperation. The Human Development Report 2013 pointed to the rise of the Global South as the harbinger of a new and diverse world. The Bandung Spirit, which emerged from the 1955 Bandung Conference and embodies the ideal of solidarity cooperation, has seen reinvigorated strength in the 21st century.
South-South cooperation is not exclusive but an alternative and a different kind of arrangement for international development cooperation. On the one hand, developing countries should manage South-South cooperation as horizontal, mutually beneficial collaboration among equals. On the other hand, the traditional North-South cooperation, where most of the financing and technology transfers come from, is often called vertical due to the asymmetrical capacities between countries and should be cherished as well. The two kinds of cooperation should be understood as complementary and convergent, which can result in triangular cooperation, as envisaged in Goal 17 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Nonetheless, since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, there have been major changes in the system of international development cooperation, with a focus on the Global South. China has put into practice win-win cooperation based on an innovative partnership model, which features inclusive mechanisms (for all countries, but especially for developing ones) and comprehensive capacity-building, and is guided by overarching principles stated in white papers for transparency and accountability, such as those on green development and more just and equitable global governance.
Since the release of the white paper "China's International Development Cooperation in the New Era" in 2021, China has embedded its international development cooperation in the vision of building a global community with a shared future, which is practically promoted by the BRI. As a major platform that prioritizes South-South cooperation, the BRI contributes to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, responds to global humanitarian challenges, supports the endogenous growth of developing countries, boosts their participation in global markets and their capacity to reap development gains, and strengthens international exchanges and tripartite cooperation in the provision of technical and financial assistance to developing nations. It enables China to collaborate with developed countries, international organizations (and trust funds), non-governmental organizations and multilateral development banks, including through major contributions to the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
With the BRI, the system of international development cooperation has evolved beyond the technical-assistance-only model and has offered a more encompassing kind of capacity building partnership that combines trade and investment — mainly for infrastructure development and technical assistance.
This model is being put into practice across the Global South, with Latin America and the Caribbean standing out as an important frontier. China-LAC relations are undergoing a strategic shift toward a more comprehensive framework for sustainable development.
Not only has China's South-South cooperation practice been effectively building capacity in terms of fundamental infrastructure such as roads, ports and renewable power plants, but it has also been offering opportunities for strategic partnerships, whether through financial support for economic production, through foreign direct investment and loans, or through creating more trade agreements, sometimes combined with technology transfer projects, or technical exchanges for on-ground know-how. So far, China has delivered notable outcomes alongside traditional cooperation modalities, as in the case of Africa, where China's assistance is helping countries participate more in world markets, which generates more public revenues and creates more employment.
This means opportunities for the LAC region. Despite the current picture in which a few LAC countries are participating in the BRI, there remain gaps and areas of cooperation to explore under strategic partnerships that range from strengthening public policies to joint technological and scientific development. There are expectations that LAC countries will negotiate projects with China based on their national development plans and the kinds of cooperation arrangements available — bilateral, trilateral with international organizations or Global North countries as third parties, and regional cooperation as in the case of the Community of LAC States (CELAC) — under the China-CELAC Forum and the China-CELAC Joint Action Plan for Cooperation in Key Areas (2025-27).
Brazil, for example, can pursue cooperation on projects under the Growth Acceleration Program and the New Industry Brazil Program, which serve as overarching development plans. At the regional level, South American countries can cooperate with China on infrastructure integration. The green transition and trade regulations could be other areas for cooperative steps to address the negative impacts associated with soybean and meat exports to China and to move forward into more sustainable agriculture and livestock within the world markets.
It should be acknowledged that alongside the new mechanisms for international development cooperation, a more inclusive form of globalization is emerging, which requires concerted actions. While aiming at promoting development in Southern societies, countries' cooperation partnerships should engage with expanding multilateralism in global governance in a more inclusive and fairer way to counter climate change, poverty and hunger.
It's time to move forward into a strategic partnership that tries to create synergy and evolve simultaneously in diverse scenarios, such as taking a prominent role within existing multilateral institutions favoring Global South agendas, expanding and deepening cooperation agreements with China from a regional perspective and priority, mainly focusing on trade and investment responding to structural gaps in terms of sustainable development, and advancing in a comprehensive manner in terms of win-win cooperation at the country level.
Mariana Bolfarine Caixeta is an associate professor at the Federal University of Goias, Brazil. Liu Jinlong is a professor and the director of the China-Brazil Joint Research Center for Exchanges and Mutual Learning between Civilizations.
The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.
