CECHAP participates in the 7th International Seminar “Latin America and the Caribbean and China: Conditions and Challenges in the 21st Century”
From May 26 to 28, 2025, the Seventh International Seminar “Latin America and the Caribbean and China: Conditions and Challenges in the 21st Century” was held, organized by the Latin America and the Caribbean Academic Network on China (Red ALC-China), with the support of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The event brought together over 100 speakers from different nationalities and disciplines and consolidated as a key space for dialogue on the main challenges and opportunities in the relationship between China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
Cynthia Sanborn, director of the Center for China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CECHAP), participated as a special guest in the series of keynote speakers, where she presented the topic “China–Latin America and the challenges for a just energy transition.” Her intervention highlighted how the Latin American region is currently facing a major opportunity to respond to growing international demand, this time driven by the climate emergency and the need to move away from fossil fuels. The presentation contrasted the lessons learned during the first “China boom” — the period between 2003 and 2014, when Latin America massively exported minerals, fuels, soybeans, and beef to a rapidly industrializing China, which generated economic growth in the region, though deepened its dependency on raw materials — with the “new China boom,” characterized by China’s greater centrality in global supply chains, its explicit commitment to sustainable development and the energy transition, and more intense competition for a wider range of strategic minerals.
Likewise, Kehan Wang, CECHAP researcher, and Marco Curi, consultant on the Center’s Just Energy Transition project, participated in the panel “The local impact of LAC exports to China,” as part of the sessions focused on economy, trade, and investment. Their participation was based on the presentation of the chapter “Territorial Impacts of Copper Export from Peru to China: The Case of Las Bambas” from the book Latin American Exports to China: Local Experiences and Challenges. Based on the case study of the Las Bambas mining project in Apurímac, they discussed both the economic opportunities generated by this trade dynamic and the social and environmental impacts it entails at the local level. The presentation concluded with policy proposals aimed at promoting greater sustainability and a more equitable territorial transformation.
Link to the presentation “Territorial Impacts of Copper Export from Peru to China: The Case of Las Bambas”: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=718069337347854
