In the hinterland of Argentina, Mario Pizarro’s office looks like a shrine to China. There is the framed photograph of a Chinese peasant with Pizarro’s face superimposed beneath the conical farmer hat. There is the blue-robed smiling Buddha statue, and there is the model wind turbine from a Chinese company with an inscription in English and Mandarin: “Create Our Future Together.”
Pizarro, 62, is the energy secretary of Jujuy, a province high in the Andes that borders Bolivia and Chile. Overlooking a river, his office building is ordinary, shabby even, but the projects he and his colleagues oversee are anything but.
It’s no secret that China has been pouring resources into South America this century, chipping away at the United States' historic dominance. But an important shift has gone largely unnoticed in the country's approach to the region: going local to expand and strengthen its financial grip.
It’s no secret that China has been pouring resources into South America this century, chipping away at the United States' historic dominance. But an important shift has gone largely unnoticed in the country's approach to the region: going local to expand and strengthen its financial grip.
(Bloomberg Markets) In the hinterland of Argentina, Mario Pizarro’s office looks like a shrine to China. There’s the framed photo of a Chinese peasant with Pizarro’s face superimposed beneath the conical farmer hat. There’s the blue-robed smiling Buddha statue.