China eyes new turf: S. America
Bush visits Friday, but President Hu Jintao has been striking business deals for two weeks.
By Danna Harman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

SANTIAGO, CHILE - When President Bush arrives here Friday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, he's likely to be met by student protesters already in the streets chanting against "globalization," "colonialism," and the US occupation of Iraq.

But China's President Hu Jintao is getting quite a different reception. For two weeks now, he's been cutting ribbons at new factories in Argentina, enjoying beef barbecues in Brazil, addressing congresses, and announcing investment projects as he and 150 Chinese businessmen make their way across South America and on to Cuba.

As in Asia and Africa, China is rapidly expanding its economic and diplomatic presence in Latin America. Frustration in this region over what is perceived as Washington's preoccupation with the war on terror, and US trade pacts that never quite get signed, coincides with a surge in exports and new trade deals with China.

"It is telling that Hu is spending more time in South America over this fortnight than Bush has in the past four years," says William Ratliff, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "Hu will come over as much more interested in Latin American people," he suggests. "His sweet, soft-power vibes leave Bush sounding like a foghorn."

South America's "trade surpluses will be driven this year and next by Chinese demand for foodstuffs and raw materials," says Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hu's visit, he adds, is a "diplomatic breakthrough."