Together under the sun

The Green Belt and Road Initiative presents an excellent opportunity for cooperation between China and LAC countries to leverage development, eradicate poverty and tackle climate change

Relations between China and Latin American countries have improved substantially over the past two decades. In addition to trade and investment, we have seen the deepening of political ties. In recent years, Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and, more recently, Honduras have adhered to the one-China principle and established diplomatic relations with China.

The objective of the relationship between the two sides is clear and public. China released two white papers on its ties with the LAC region in 2008 and 2016. The documents reinforce the search for cooperation, complementarity of economies, and mutual and shared gains. Specifically, in the 2016 text, mention must be made about collaboration in sectors with higher added value.

The final document of the China-CELAC Forum, held in Santiago, capital of Chile, in 2018, highlighted that China considers the LAC countries to be part of the natural extension of the Belt and Road Initiative. Currently, 22 countries have already signed memorandums of understanding to join the initiative. Infrastructure construction projects are spread across the region, in countries such as Jamaica, Panama, El Salvador, Peru and Ecuador, among others.

A central aspect of the Belt and Road Initiative's investments in Latin America is the alignment with issues of global concern, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, and mitigating the effects of climate change, particularly energy reconversion, such as the construction of clean energy plants and the production of electric batteries for cars and buses. These issues and solutions were highlighted by the Green Belt and Road Initiative, issued in 2017.

In this sense, the potential offered by the natural resources of Latin American countries is enormous. Most of the subcontinent is in tropical regions with a high annual insolation level. According to the Brazilian Atlas of Solar Energy, the country receives more than 3,000 hours of sunlight, 40 percent more sunlight than Germany, which invests the most in and uses the most solar energy. Exploiting this potential has become economically viable with China's cheap and large-scale production of photovoltaic panels. Currently, hundreds of solar energy generation parks in Latin America use Chinese technology.

It is worth considering that LAC has approximately 60 percent of known lithium reserves. Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina concentrate most of the resources in the world. Brazil is the largest producer of niobium, another noble metal widely used in producing electric batteries. Energy wise, the region has large oil reserves, particularly in Venezuela. In addition, the governments of China and Argentina have signed a memorandum for constructing a new plant at the Atucha 3 nuclear power plant.

Latin America also has one-third of the world's fresh water and the largest equatorial forest in the world, the Amazon Forest. Due to the enormous diversity of fauna and flora, the Amazon can, being the "lung of the world", offer the world environmental services related to carbon capture, or experience from its rainfall regime that has a bearing on the formation of snow on the Tibetan plateau. The forest has enormous potential for advancing the biotechnology and phytopharmaceuticals sector. In this regard, it is essential to tap the ancient wisdom of populations that have inhabited the region for hundreds of years.

There is enormous potential for deepening relations between China and LAC countries. In this sense, the Green Belt and Road Initiative can contribute to regional development and the significant challenges humanity faces. To this end, it is necessary to encourage the development of productive partnerships in which LAC is not just a large deposit of natural resources sold without processing but with more added value that supports the reindustrialization of the countries in the region.

This time could be different from the past. Huge problems can create opportunities for humanity to improve science, technology, innovation, and global governance. In this regard, the Green Belt and Road Initiative represents an excellent opportunity for Latin American countries to leverage their development, eradicate poverty, and advance in technology. And its targets could be achieved with mutual and shared gains, not impositions and conditionalities, as Western countries have always done in the region.

This partnership is also vital for Latin American and Chinese people, not only for economic complementarity but even to face the enormous problems faced by all humanity, such as the extreme climate events that hit every place in the world.

Marcos Cordeiro Pires is a professor of international political economy at the Sao Paulo State University. Zhang Min is executive director at the Center for American Studies of Nanjing Agricultural University. 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.