Exploring the nontraditional foreign investment in Sino–Latin American relations: The Chilean case

Abstract

At the end of 2016, China and Chile increased their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership increasingly involving the development of traditional and nontraditional foreign investments. The former is measured under the usual parameters of economic cooperation that includes horizontal and vertical investments. However, during the last decades, new forms of cooperation have emerged based on the creation of a HUB that responds to complex strategies in specific contexts, which implies the willingness of nations to establish sophisticated links in which both countries use their competitive resources in search of a common benefit. Although there is no absolute limit between traditional and nontraditional foreign direct investments, since they are not mutually exclusive, the latter have become fundamental elements in the establishment of Chinese multidimensional relations and are part of the new path of cooperation in the Latin America region. In this context, Chile is one of the countries that has hosted the largest number of hub platforms led by China in South America, which include the Southern Optical Fiber Project, the China-Chile Joint Astronomical Data Center, and the China-South America Transpacific cable. This article explores the dynamics of these initiatives through the case study of China–Chile relations.