Though not without its challeges, the China-Latin America relationship saw much more in the way of integration and cooperation in 2012.

At the end of 2004 and in early 2005, and again at the end of 2008 and in early 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Vice President Xi Jinping visited Latin America within two months of each other. In 2012, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Jia Qinlin, the country's top three leaders at the time, all visited the region. No other country has sent out so many of its top leaders to Latin America within such a short time span. This is obviously a good sign that relations between China and the region are improving.

Among the Latin American leaders that visited China in 2012, Raul Castro, president of Cuba's Council of State and the Council of Ministers, stood out, attracting worldwide attention. Castro visited Beijing in early July, making his first trip to China since he replaced his brother Fidel Castro as Cuba's top leader.

While continuing to adhere to socialism and resisting market-oriented reform, Cuba under Raul Castro's leadership has been speeding up its pace of economic reform since Fidel Castro's withdrawal from the political stage. The significance of Castro's trip to China is that the Caribbean island nation might learn something from China's experience in an effort to achieve development, reform and stability. It is believed that Cuba, the only socialist country in the Western Hemisphere, might be "a China in the Caribbean".

Needless to say, China should also learn from Cuba in terms of maintaining social stability and keeping the two wheels of economic and social progress on a balanced track. In Cuba there is no "shang fang", or appealing to the higher authorities for help, which has been a great headache for the Chinese authorities.

In 2012, China's trade with Latin America continued to grow. It is interesting to note that, while China imports more resources from Latin America, which benefits the region with higher commodity prices on the world market, it is often criticized for encouraging the region to rely on natural resources and discouraging it to upgrade its industrial structures.

However, when China's economy slowed down in 2012, reducing its external demand for resources, it was blamed for curbing commodity prices in the world market. The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Santiago, Chile mentioned three "unfavorable external factors" that were detrimental to economic growth in Latin America: sluggish recovery of the American economy, the European debt crisis, and soft landing of the Chinese economy.

Describing the lack of a single consistent foreign policy across the continent of Europe, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was famously quoted as saying "Whom do I call when I want to call Europe?" As a matter of fact, the quip could also be applied to the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and has presented challenges for China in terms of engagement. Latin America's 33 countries have different national interests and a wide variety of foreign policy goals.

In order to work towards having "a single voice" in the international arena, Latin America's 33 countries established the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Spanish: Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribe?os, CELAC) in 2011. It was reported that Chinese President Hu Jintao was the first foreign leader to congratulate the group's establishment. In his congratulatory message to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Chilean President Sebastian Pi?era on December 2, 2011, Hu lauded the establishment of CELAC as a major milestone in regional integration.

On August 9, 2012, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with the foreign ministers of Cuba, Venezuela and Chile. The three representatives, dubbed as "CELAC's Troika," exchanged in-depth views with Yang on China-Latin America cooperation as well as other international and regional issues. The ministers discussed the possible formation of a forum between China and Latin America in the near future, similar to the high profile and highly successful China-Africa Forum.

Despite his ill health, Venezuelan President Chávez once again won his country's 2012 election. In Mexico, Enrique Pe?a Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) was the victor. Based on Chávez's and the PRI's past record of friendly ties to China, it can be expected that China's relations with Venezuela and Mexico will continue to improve.

Yet another challenge for China-Latin America relations will be the resurgence of "resource nationalism" evident in certain Latin American countries over the past year. In April 2012, Argentine President Cristina Fernández announced that her government would nationalize the South American country's largest energy company YPF, whose major stake-holder is Repsol, a Spanish company. Spanish President Mariano Rajoy believed that Argentina's international reputation had been damaged. It was reported that Sinopec, one of China's largest energy companies, had been negotiating with Repsol for the purchase of its YPF assets for $15 billion. Apparently, the possible deal would not materialize in the face of President Fernández's nationalization.

And new questions are arising as relations evolve. While few Chinese can understand the real meaning of "strategic partnership", China and Brazil upgraded their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership when Premier Wen Jiabao visited the South American nation in June of 2012. The question is, however, whether the new partnership will stop Brazil from levying anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese exports. Currently the two nations need to explore ways to better cooperate in the future.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit http://www.h5a3.com/opinion/jiangshixue.htm

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