Free Republic

China appears to be using its economic might as a means to strip Taiwan of its Latin American allies. China’s economic engagement with Latin America responds to the requirements of a booming Chinese economy that has been growing at nearly 10 percent per year for the past quarter century. The economic figures are impressive: in the past six years, Chinese imports from Latin America have grown more than six-fold, at a pace of some 60 percent a year, to an estimated $60 billion in 2006. China has become a major consumer of food, mineral, and other primary products from Latin...

The election of a Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress and the inauguration of Felipe Calderon as president of Mexico offer the two countries an opportunity to reinvigorate a deteriorating relationship and, at the same time, build confidence in the idea of a true North American community. To do so, the new leaders must change the agenda from illegal immigration to North American development and resolve to narrow the income gap between Mexico and its two northern neighbors