Heine Quoted on Chinese-Latin American Relations
Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in an article on Chinese “corona diplomacy” and how it has shifted global influence in Latin America. The article was published in Het Financiele Dagebald – a daily Dutch newspaper focused on business and financial matters – on July 6, 2020.
The article discusses how in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, China has been sending supplies and aid to Latin American countries in need, which has built good up good will and put American influence and supremacy in the region at stake. Heine claims that at a time when the U.S. and Europe are not doling out international aid in tackling COVID-19, China has stepped up and become a viable alternative for Latin America.
An excerpt:
‘The European Union did not even want to help corona-stricken Italy, let alone South America,’ said Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador to China. ‘China is filling that gap.’ Chile, a prosperous country in South America, is known for maintaining ties with Beijing in a way that does not undermine its economy, unlike Ecuador, for example, which has large debts with China.
English and Dutch copies of the article can be read here.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more on him here.