The Center participated in the LASA International Congress, Boston, May 24-27, 2019
The Centre is a member of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and participates in its Asia and Latin America Section. The Director was a speaker during the panel on Asia and Latin America in the framework of challenges and opportunities of the changing international order. Dr. Santa Gadea presented her research on China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) and posed questions to determine the extent to which the BRI would constitute a renewal of economic cooperation between China and Latin America. The research argues that although the key concept of the initiative is connectivity (by land and sea), this is not limited to investments in infrastructure. There is another fundamental concept at hand: “economic corridors”. Consequently, the extension of China’s Belt and Road initiative to South America would consist of building a trans-Pacific economic corridor, within this framework, a strategic vision for Peru is proposed. The panel included outstanding specialists such as Cui Shoujun of Renmin University of China, Gonzalo Paz of Georgetown University, Enrique Dussel Peters of UNAM, Mexico and Leonardo E. Stanley of the Center for the Study of State and Society of Argentina, who presented their research and/or comments for general debate. The LASA International Congress also provided the opportunity to participate in several discussion sessions on Asia and Latin America that took place throughout the four days of this event.
