Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Francisco Urdinez
Source: Getty
Summary: During the pandemic, Chinese medical and equipment supplies to Chile have come mostly from a diverse cast of Chinese players with local experience in Chile. They adapted to Chileâs unique system of emergency and disaster management.
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Preface
China has become a global power, but there is too little debate about
how this has happened and what it means. Many argue that China exports its developmental model and imposes it on other countries. But Chinese players also extend their influence by working through local actors and institutions while adapting and assimilating local and traditional forms, norms, and practices.
Apr 2, 2021
As poor nations struggle to get their hands on COVID-19 vaccines, a thinly populated South American country finds its chances linked to its unexpected role in growing tensions between the U.S. and China.
Paraguay’s 63-year-old alliance with Taiwan forged when both were run by right-wing authoritarians means the government can’t directly buy from China’s vaccine-makers that have supplied other Latin American nations. Officials say they’ve been approached to switch allegiances to Beijing to get the doses.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken phoned President Mario Abdo Benitez to stiffen his spine against such a shift. That led Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo to speak frankly this week to Washington and Taipei.
Chilean Lawmakers Push for Restrictions on Chinese Buying Spree
Valentina Fuentes, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) A group of Chilean legislators are proposing tighter rules on foreign investment in strategic industries after a Chinese state-owned company agreed to take control of over half of the South American countryâs power distribution.
Lower house members from both the opposition and the ruling coalition presented a bill that would allow congress to block acquisitions of strategic assets by foreign state-owned companies, with debate set to begin this week.
State Grid Corp. of China announced in November it would pay Naturgy Energy Group SA $3 billion for control of Chilean utility CGE. If the deal gets final regulatory approval, the company would control 57% of the countryâs power distribution a move that wouldnât necessarily hurt existing laws. The Chinese company, the worldâs largest utility, currently owns 11% of that market through CGE peer Chilquinta