Argentinian Foreign Policy Prospects in Hard Times: Economics and Politics of the Bilateral Relationship with China

Abstract

The prospects for the Argentinian foreign policy are conditiones, in the political leve, by the determination to insist on the path of South-American integration and South-South cooperation on behalf of the salient Administration. In the economic level, there is a hardening of the current external environment, with the resulting narrowing of the maneuver margin for the government in the domestic front. Therefore, there is the question of how the interaction of the two levels would affect the foreign policy orientation in the near term.We will look into this problem through an analysis of the magnitude and nature of the Chinese economic relation with Argentina, from a local (Argentinian) point of view. To do so, we will exam the current bilateral trade and investment patterns and trends, focusing on the Argentinian side. In the political level, we will accomplish an overview of the major dilemmas presented to the main Argentinian presidential candidates in the recent electoral conjuncture.We will conclude, first, by relate our two analytical dimmensions, namely, the economic and the political level. Then, we will formulate a reflection about the terms under which the Sino-Argentinian relationship could be developed in the near term, in light of our previous considerations.