The Wall Street Journal reports on Hu’s visit to America’s backyard. The Russian president is also in the region, but is facing a less receptive audience.

By William Ratliff | Nov 26, 2008 | The Wall Street Journal

Last week Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged that China will make a “concerted effort” to “establish a comprehensive cooperative partnership of equality, mutual benefit and common development” with Latin America, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. The Chinese president made his comments in Lima just before the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Mr. Hu’s words — and other recent developments — warrant careful attention because they clearly signal a relationship that will expand greatly in the years ahead.

APEC was the last stop in Mr. Hu’s journey to the West, a 10-day trip which shows how much Beijing’s relations with the Western Hemisphere have changed from the “lie-low” strategy of Deng Xiaoping. This was Mr. Hu’s first trip to South America since November 2004, when he visited Brazil and Argentina en route to an APEC summit in Chile. That trip raised China’s profile in the region, but this latest trip, in a period of international financial crisis, confirmed China’s intention to play a more open, active, permanent and constructive role in the Americas, though some Latins have become doubtful or jaded.

The first-ever official policy paper on China and Latin America was released just before Mr. Hu’s trip. It outlines a range of programs in the region, including cooperation in science, technology and education, and political exchanges at all levels.

Each side has a lot to gain. China’s interests in Latin America include buying raw materials and foodstuffs, ranging from oil and copper to soybeans; helping to develop Latin infrastructure to produce and deliver those products; and selling (some countries have charged “dumping”) manufactures. Latin countries hope to sell raw materials and manufactures to develop their historically unstable economies; draw investments without the strings attached by Western powers; reduce dependence on the United States; and perhaps get ideas on how to develop national economies under elitist leadership, still the norm in Latin America.

In a talk to the Peruvian Congress, Mr. Hu proposed ways to boost Sino-Latin ties, including increasing high-level exchanges of personnel to improve dialogue, trust and cross-cultural understanding. He also spoke about cooperation on overlapping international objectives and mutually beneficial cooperation on economic issues. Cultural differences, ignorance of each other and logistics are constant challenges.

The rise of populist governments inspired by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is a burden as well as blessing to Beijing. Chinese leaders know that Latin America’s populist leaders and their economic policies are bound to fail. Still, China has pledged billions of dollars for Venezuelan oil while diplomatically distancing itself from Mr. Chavez’s self-proclaimed “Maoist” campaign against Washington. In fact, in Lima Mr. Hu praised President George Bush for his active efforts to improve Sino-U.S. relations.

Other recent events that demonstrate China’s greatly increasing role in the hemisphere include Beijing’s new donor membership in the Inter-American Development bank, which for decades was considered a key weapon in the “U.S. imperialism” arsenal. Almost half of China’s initial contribution of $350 million is earmarked for the micro-enterprises, and small- and medium-sized businesses, the Chinese for so long excoriated.

Mr. Hu also played a major role in the G-20 meeting in Washington at the beginning of his most recent trip. China’s active cooperation, which Mr. Hu promised again in Lima, is critical in efforts to work out the current financial crisis. China now has much to gain from helping Washington survive and from funding the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

China also has a political agenda in Latin America. Mr. Hu’s trip took him also to Costa Rica, which last year switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing, which it did not recognize before. Since half of the countries in the world that recognize Taiwan are in Central America and the Caribbean, China hopes its attention to Costa Rica, including the launch of FTA negotiations, will encourage others to follow suit.

In recent years, China has been second only to Venezuela in propping up the Castro brothers’ regime in Cuba with trade, investments and aid. On a visit to Havana, Mr. Hu contributed generously to Cuba’s hurricane reconstruction and met with Cuba’s new leader, Raul Castro. He talked at length with Fidel, seen as an old “Marxist” whose ideas are wrong but who stood by Beijing in 1989 and must somehow be venerated for his stubborn refusal to give up.

Some around the hemisphere are concerned about China’s increasing attention to Latin America, but on balance Beijing’s expanding links are largely in line with what the U.S. has said China should do to become an active “stakeholder” in the modern world. Besides, China’s trade and investments in the U.S. dwarf its links to Latin America.

China’s expansion into the Western Hemisphere is an inevitable development that must be watched carefully but cultivated as much as possible for everyone’s benefit. Indeed, if China has to seriously reduce its purchases of commodities from Latin America, many countries there will feel real pain. Mr. Hu’s trip to Lima shows that China can be an active force for good in the world’s economy. Especially today, in times of financial distress, its influence is a welcome one.