Category: South America

Gunmen Attack Chinese-Owned Power Plant Site in Chile

Gunmen attacked a Chinese-owned hydroelectric plant under construction in Chile Sunday, setting fire to dozens of trucks and heavy earth-moving equipment, police said. The Rucalhue power plant is being built by Rucalhue Energia Spa, a unit of China International Water and ...

Argentina Extends China Debt Deal Despite U.S. Pressure

Argentina extended a multi-billion-dollar currency swap agreement with China Thursday, despite fierce opposition to the deal in Washington. The cash-strapped South American nation extended the $5 billion accord with Beijing for one more year, securing much-needed foreign reserves. ...

Colombia Seizes 54 Tons of China-Bound Smartphone Minerals

Colombian police said Wednesday they had seized 54 tons of tin and coltan, a mineral used in smartphones, that had been illicitly extracted by leftist rebels and readied for shipment to China. They valued the seizure, one of the biggest of ...

China Slams U.S. ‘Interference’ in Venezuela Over Trump Oil Tariff Threat

China on Tuesday accused the United States of "interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs" after President Donald Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on imports from countries that bought oil and gas from the South American nation. On Monday, Trump said the new ...

Trump Moves to Punish Venezuelan Oil Trade, With China and India Likely to Feel the Blow

By Beiyi Seow and Becca Milfed U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday steep tariffs on imports from countries buying Venezuelan oil and gas, a punitive measure that could hit China and India, among others, and sow fresh global trade uncertainty.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked to ...

Ecuador Set to Receive Chinese-Built Dam Pending Arbitration Over Defects

By Julie Radomski The hydroelectric megaproject Coca Codo Sinclair is among Latin America's most controversial Chinese-financed and constructed infrastructure projects. Although officially inaugurated in 2016, the dam has not yet been formally handed over to the Ecuadorian government — but this ...

Chile Reviews Chinese Observatory Plans Slammed by U.S.

Chile said Wednesday it was reviewing an agreement for the construction of a Chinese astronomical observatory on its soil, a project that has drawn criticism from Washington as it jostles with Beijing for influence in Latin America. Under an agreement signed ...

Colombia Juggles Closer China Ties and Trump Tensions

By Rodrigo Rodríguez On 26 January, a diplomatic spat erupted between Colombia and the United States, as the South American country’s president, Gustavo Petro, refused to land a flight carrying Colombian citizens deported from the US. Taking to social media, Petro 

Why South America’s Trade With China Could Blunt Trump’s Tariff Edge

A new investigation by Reuters shows that the Trump administration's threat of tariffs is mostly successful with a small number of Latin American countries mainly exporting to the U.S., like Mexico and Colombia. In contrast, most South American exports to the ...

Bolivia Inaugurates Steel Plant Built With Chinese Loan

Short on foreign currency, Bolivia inaugurated a steel plant Monday that it hopes will reduce its reliance on metal imports, thanks to a loan from China. The Mutun megaproject in Puerto Suarez, near Bolivia's border with Brazil, was built at a ...

XI’s Special Envoy Attends Maduro Inauguration: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a special envoy to attend the third swearing-in of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, state-run Xinhua reported Saturday, underscoring Beijing's lonely position as one of Caracas's few international allies. A defiant Maduro was sworn in for a new ...

BYD Scrambles to Recover From Labor Abuse Controversy in Brazil

The Chinese automotive giant BYD is in full-scale damage control mode following revelations at the end of the year that some of the workers building the company's new factory in northern Brazil had endured "slavery"-like conditions. Initially, the company responded defensively, ...
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