LASA/EANLAS: Rethinking Trans-Pacific Ties: Asia and Latin America

La Ruta Digital: Re-imagining Digital Platform in Latin America-China Relations

• In Event: New trend in China-Latin America cooperation

Abstract

Digital platforms have become an important and recognized alternative to face-to-face interaction as a consequence of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This alternative has profoundly affected Latin America-China relations in a wide variety of fields ranging from academia to diplomacy. In this article, I argue that the post-pandemic emergence of digital platforms has an immense potential to surmount geographic barriers, develop mutual understandings and specifically, I contend that the "digital revolution" will increasingly become an alternative route to China’s Belt and Road Initiative facilitating trade, investment, and cooperation on global issues. This study explains how the Digital Route has significantly affected Latin America - China relations at both government and civil society levels during and after the pandemic.

I use evidence from qualitative research and in-person interviews with relevant people (diplomats, scholars, and health experts) to examine online interactions between China and Latin America in diplomacy (e.g., the China-CELAC forum and other unprecedented diplomatic interactions between regional/municipal governments of both sides) and the academia (e.g., the increasing use of webinars by Chinese and Latin American health experts, online cultural exchange events). The study also explores the major challenges of the Digital Route, including cyber security and international law. My findings show that the digital platform not only facilitated the official communication between China and LAC, but the frequency of the interactions between civil societies also reached an unprecedented high level.

Author

• Xuantong He, Brandeis University