Argentina’s ties with China deepen under Fernández

[Renzi]

Generally the region pisses on US activity in Latin America.... You are also omitting the one significant US regional success, namely, Plan Colombia.

Good catch, I did miss that one. But I think few people outside of Washington would consider that a "success." Mostly it shifted the focus of the drug trade (and the murders) from Colombia to Mexico in the early 2000s, which gave us its even more successful sequel, "Plan Merida" in 2008. The more recent peace initiative in Colombia headed by President Santos succeeded in spite of US attempts to sabotage it via their boy Álvaro Uribe (who may be going to trial soon).

If the US didn't have a history of being a bad actor in the region, people probably would "piss" on its activities. That said, I'm not looking forward to seeing what Chinese intervention in LatAm is going to bring in the next couple of years.

 

[milanesas]

The difference I see is that US lenders are almost 100% motivated by getting paid back on time and earning profit, while Chinese lenders and infrastructure projects are motivated by more long term political and influence factors and the "ask" often comes years later. In my opinion at least the US lenders are clear with their objectives from the beginning as the Chinese are more mysterious and less directly influencing the day to day life of a population as what they usually want is a vote in their favor at the UN, support for a territorial dispute etc.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

The difference I see is that US lenders are almost 100% motivated by getting paid back on time and earning profit, while Chinese lenders and infrastructure projects are motivated by more long term political and influence factors and the "ask" often comes years later. In my opinion at least the US lenders are clear with their objectives from the beginning as the Chinese are more mysterious and less directly influencing the day to day life of a population as what they usually want is a vote in their favor at the UN, support for a territorial dispute etc.

Mialnesas,

You were not direct enough in my opinion. I offer the following:

You know where you stand with borrowed EE UU money.

The Chinese, to use a polite word are ... "SNEAKY!" They have motives and they will not let you know what they are until you are committed and there is no way to back out of whatever arrangement you are involved in.

This is not a guess, it is not a maybe. I have interacted with the Chinese culture on a few different levels in my past ... I have found them to be sneaky people from an even sneaker culture. In Asia and China in particular ... NO! Means maybe ... MAYBE Means no ... as it is impolite to say no. And you almost never, ever hear the word no from them, it is more like WE WILL SEE. That is the Asian version of no ... WE WILL SEE or Perhaps.

 

[QuilmesSlo]

The West would be well advised to avoid entanglements of with China, and substantially reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains.

 

[lunar]

The Chinese, to use a polite word are ... "SNEAKY!"

A loan is a loan. You sign a contract; you get your money.

If you pay back agreed amount at the end of the term - that's it. It does not matter whom you signed the contract with - Chinese, Americans, Germans or Zimbabweans.

If you cannot pay and are willing to resolve this situation in creative ways, then yes, some countries can offer a higher level of creativity in this respect.

What you call "sneaky" is actually "adaptive to hostile dysfunctional business environments."