China: risks and opportunities for the Pacific Alliance

Abstract

Taking into account the academic discussion on Sino-Latin American re-lations, with perspectives that alternate between complementarity and dependency, this investigation sets out to analyze the various positions of countries belonging to the Pacific Alliance. It verifies that although Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico have established a successful trade partnership with China, this relationship is deeply asymmetric. The investigation aims to highlight the risks involved in this type of part-nership, but also seeks to determine how it can be improved. Another objective is to initiate a debate on a topic that remains largely unexplored: investment in renewable energies and its potential to diversify a relationship that focuses on the export of raw materials. Current research considers that renewable energies represent a true instance of complementarity. On one hand, China is in the race to lead the world in green investments, leaving behind the image of a polluted country. On the other hand, the states of the Pacific Alliance have a high energy potential, but they lack the capital and technology needed for its development.