China’s influence in Latin America

An interesting piece in the FT today (subscription) that proffers no conclusions but alerted me to the scale of Chinese investment (and potential influence) in Latin America:

Almost half of China’s direct foreign investment is going into Latin America, and Beijing has pledged it will reach $100bn (£57.7bn) in the next five years. Joint ventures have been agreed in steel, transport and energy and military exchanges are increasing. [emphasis added]

I had no idea they were focusing so intently on the region.

Note to self: Watch this space.