What do China’s actions in Africa, Latin America, and other regions signal about its developing foreign policy?
Several factors motivate China’s foreign policy makers. They want to maintain China’s status as leader of the developing world. So they have devoted considerable attention to cultivating relations with the governments in these areas. A more recent, and definitely more urgent, need for China is to secure access to natural resources, such as energy and commodities. Beijing views such access as critical to its economic security because China is a resource-scarce manufacturing powerhouse, and must import the commodities that supply its factories and power plants. Because China is a latecomer to world commodities markets and lacks the reach and sophistication of entrenched Western multinational corporations, Chinese leaders attempt to compensate for their weakness by flexing the muscles of the Chinese state, using giant state-owned companies and cash-rich state-owned banks to compete for natural resources in these regions. Unfortunately, this policy has met with fear and suspicion among Wes
