IR 425
The New Triangle:
China, the U.S. & Latin America
Prof. Carol Wise
Spring 2014
T-TH 5:00-6:20 p.m. SOS B40
School of International Relations
University of Southern California
Office hours: Wednesday 2:30-5:00 pm (VKC 328)
Direct line: 213-740-2138
E-mail: cwise@usc.edu
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The rapid rise of China in the international political economy raises any number of intriguing
policy research questions. With a strong emphasis on the role of economic policy as a crucial
part of this process, this seminar will explore historical, conceptual, and contemporary issues and
trends as they relate to the new U.S.-Latin America-China triangle that has emerged in the
Western Hemisphere over the past decade. First, we will explore China’s relations with the U.S.
and with Latin America prior to its initiation of market reforms in the late 1970s; second, we will
compare and contrast the reform record of China and Latin America, as well as the ways in which
reform outcomes have affected U.S. relations with China and Latin America. Finally, we will
debate contemporary issues, including the impact of the 2008-09 financial crises on US-China
relations and the global community, China’s strengthening economic ties with key Latin
American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico) and what this implies for US- Latin
American relations, and the possibility for increased Chinese cooperation and leadership in vital
global issue areas like energy, climate change, and natural resource management. The overriding
goal of this course is to sharpen students’ analytical and writing skills, with a focus on policy
analysis and problem-solving.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Two 8-page position papers that concisely analyze and discuss a major policy issue or
decision and which offers alternative policy options and/scenarios. Each paper will be
worth 15% of your grade.

In-class mid-term exam, worth 30% of your grade.

Take-home final exam, worth 30% of your grade.

Participation in ongoing weekly seminar discussions and small group presentations
(based on theme of a given week) (10%). Students who intend to miss more than two
seminar sessions are advised not to take the course, as more than two unexcused
absences will result in a grade reduction.

Completion of all assigned readings prior to each meeting. All readings on the syllabus
have been posted on Blackboard.
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
For Disabled Students: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a
disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each
semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from
DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible.
DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
CLASS SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNED READINGS
Week 1: Introduction and Overview
Jan. 14: Course Plan
Jan. 16: Structural Shift
Robert Devlin, “China’s Economic Rise,” in Riordan Roett and Guadalupe Paz, eds., China's
Expansion into the Western Hemisphere: Implications for Latin America and the United States
(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008), pp. 111-147. PDF posted on Blackboard
Rhys Jenkins, “China’s Global Expansion and Latin America,” Journal of Latin American
Studies, vol. 42, no. 4 (2010): 809-837. PDF posted on blackboard
Week 2: The U.S.-China-Latin America Triangle
Jan. 21: Divergent Views
Xiang Lanxin, “An Alternative Chinese View,” in Roett and Paz, eds., China's Expansion into the
Western Hemisphere, pp. 44-58. PDF posted on blackboard
Jiang Shixue, “The Chinese Foreign Policy Perspective,” in Roett and Paz, eds., China's
Expansion into the Western Hemisphere, pp. 27-43. PDF posted on blackboard
Barbara Stallings, “The U.S.-China-Latin America Triangle: Implications for the Future,” in
Roett and Paz, eds., China's Expansion into the Western Hemisphere, pp. 239-259. PDF posted
on blackboard
Jan. 23: Mixed Consequences
Francisco E. González, “Latin America in the Economic Equation---Winners and Losers: What
Can Losers Do?” in Roett and Paz, eds., China's Expansion into the Western Hemisphere, pp.
148-169. PDF posted on blackboard
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, “A View from Latin America,” in Roett and Paz, eds., China's Expansion
into the Western Hemisphere, pp. 59-89. PDF posted on blackboard
Ariel C. Armony, “The China-Latin America Relationship: Convergences and Divergences,” in
Adrian Hearn and Jose Luis Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America: Tracing the
Trajectory (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Books, 2011). PDF posted on blackboard
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A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKDROP
Week 3: Film Week
Jan. 28: Film, “The Mao Years”
Jan. 30: Film on “The Deng Years”
Week 4: Rapprochements with China
Feb. 4: The U.S. Rapprochement
Film Clips from Nixon’s 1972 Trip to China
Joseph Camilleri, Chinese Foreign Policy: The Maoist Era and its Aftermath (Seattle: University
of Washington Press, 1980), pp. 3-46, 178-195. PDF posted on blackboard
Margaret MacMillan, “Nixon, Kissinger, and the Opening to China,” in Fredrik Logevall and
Andrew Preston, eds., Nixon in the World: American Foreign Relations 1969-1977 (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008) pp. 107-125. PDF posted on blackboard
Feb. 6: Latin America’s Rapprochement
Cecil Johnson, Communist China & Latin America, 1959-1967 (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1970), pp. 1-52, 286-304. PDF posted on blackboard
Robert North Belmont, The Foreign Relations of China (CA: Wadsworth, 1978, third edition),
pp. 179-222. PDF posted on blackboard
Week 5: U.S.-Latin American Relations Post-1945
POSITION PAPER NO. 1 DUE BY 6:00 pm ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14
Please submit paper through “turn-it-in”on Blackboard
Feb. 11: Ongoing Misunderstandings
Mark Atwood Lawrence, “History from Below: The United States and Latin America in the
Nixon Years,” in Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston, eds., Nixon in the World: American
Foreign Relations 1969-1977 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) pp. 269-288. PDF posted
on blackboard
Michael Kryzanek, U.S.-Latin American Relations (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008, fourth edition),
pp. 1-60. PDF posted on blackboard
Jeffrey Taffet, Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy: The Alliance for Progress in Latin America (New
York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 11-46. PDF posted on blackboard
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Feb. 13: Periodic Disappointments
Michael Kryzanek, U.S.-Latin American Relations (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008, fourth edition),
pp. 61-124. PDF posted on blackboard
Jeffrey Taffet, Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy: The Alliance for Progress in Latin America (New
York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 47-94. PDF posted on blackboard
Week 6: The Impetus for Economic Reform in both Regions
Feb. 18: China in the Late 1970s
Shaun Breslin, China and the Global Political Economy (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan,
2007), pp. 40-81. PDF posted on blackboard
Barry Naughton, Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform 1978-1993 (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995), Introduction & pp. 27-96. PDF posted on blackboard
Feb. 20: Latin America---Prelude to the 1982 Debt Crisis
Peter Kingstone, The Political Economy of Latin America (New York, NY: Routledge, 2011), pp.
19-44. PDF posted on blackboard
Rosemary Thorp, Progress, Poverty and Exclusion: An Economic History of Latin America in the
20th Century (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 1998), pp. 159-199. PDF
posted on blackboard
A FORK IN THE REFORM ROAD
Week 7: Bumpy Starts
Feb. 25: China---Reformulation and Debate
Shaun Breslin, China and the Global Political Economy (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan,
2007), pp. 82-105. PDF posted on blackboard
Barry Naughton, Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform 1978-1993 (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 173-243. PDF posted on blackboard
Feb. 27: Latin America’s ‘Lost Decade’ of the 1980s
Rosemary Thorp, Progress, Poverty and Exclusion: An Economic History of Latin America in the
20th Century, pp. 201-239. PDF posted on blackboard
Week 8: Washington Dogmatism versus Beijing Pragmatism
March 4: Beijing Pragmatism
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Shaun Breslin, China and the Global Political Economy (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan,
2007), pp. 106-130. PDF posted on blackboard
Yingyi Qian, “How Reform Worked in China,” in Dani Rodrik, ed., In Search of Prosperity
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp. 297-333. PDF posted on blackboard
March 6: Washington Dogmatism
Nancy Birdsall and Augusto de la Torre, Washington Contentious (Washington, DC: Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace and Inter-American Dialogue, 2001), pp. 1-17. PDF posted
on blackboard
Peter Kingstone, The Political Economy of Latin America (New York, NY: Routledge, 2011), pp.
45-90. PDF posted on blackboard
Week 9: China-Latin American Ties Spring to Life in the 2000s
March 11: Opportunities and Challenges
Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente, “Mapping Chinese Mining Investment in Latin America: Politics or
Market?” The China Quarterly, vol. 209 (2012): 35-58. PDF posted on blackboard
Rhys Jenkins, “The ‘China Effect’ on Commodity Prices and Latin American Export Earnings,”
CEPAL Review, vol. 103 (April, 2011): 73-87. PDF posted on blackboard
Javier Santiso and Rolando Avendano, “Economic Fundamentals of the Relationship,” in Hearn
and Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America.
PDF posted on blackboard
March 13: Mid-term Exam
Week 10: SPRING BREAK
CHINA’S ENTRY INTO THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE IN THE 2000s
COUNTRY CASES
Week 11: Competitive Disadvantage
March 25: Mexico and Central America’s China Conundrum
Roberto Hernandez, “Economic Liberalization and Trade Relations between Mexico and China,”
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, vol. 41 (2012): 49-96. PDF posted on blackboard
Francisco Haro Navejas, “China’s Relationship with Central America and the Caribbean States,”
in Hearn and Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America. PDF posted on blackboard
March 27: China’s Incursions into NAFTA
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Enrique Dussel Peters, “The Auto Parts-Automotive Chain in Mexico and China: Co-operation
Potential,” The China Quarterly, vol. 209 (2012): 82-110. PDF posted on blackboard
Enrique Dussel Peters and Kevin P. Gallagher, “NAFTA’s Uninvited Guest: China and the
Disintegration of North American Trade,” CEPAL Review, vol. 110 (2013): 83-108.
PDF posted on blackboard
Week 12: Conflict and Crisis across the Pacific
April 1: Growing Tensions between China and the U.S.
Daniel Erikson, “Conflicting U.S. Perceptions of China’s Growing Inroads in Latin America,” in
Hearn and Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America. PDF posted on blackboard
Cynthia Watson, “The Obama Administration, Latin America, and the Middle Kingdom,” in
Hearn and Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America. PDF posted on blackboard
April 3: Surviving the Global Financial Shocks of 2008-2010
Leslie Armijo, Carol Wise, and Saori Katada, “Unexpected Outcomes: How the Emerging
Economies Survived the Global Financial Crisis.” PDF posted on blackboard
Week 13: China-Latin America---Comparative Advantage I
April 8: Chile & Peru---China’s Voracious Appetite for Mineral Imports
Juan Carlos Gachuz, “Chile’s Economic and Political Relationship with China,” Journal of
Current Chinese Affairs, vol. 41 (2012): 133-154. PDF posted on blackboard
Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente, “The Political Economy of Sino-Latin American Relations: A New
Dependency?” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, vol. 41 (2012): 97-131. PDF posted on
blackboard
Carol Wise, “Great Expectations: China’s Free Trade Agreements with Chile and Peru.” PDF
posted on blackboard
April 10: Class Dinner, 5:00 pm
Bacaro L.A.
2308 South Union Avenue
Week 14: Comparative Advantage II---Argentina and Brazil
April 15: Brazil and China’s Feeding Frenzy
POSITION PAPER NO. 2 DUE BY 6:00 pm ON FRIDAY, APRIL 18. Please submit
through “turn-it-in” on Blackboard.
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Daniel Cardoso, “China-Brazil: a Strategic partnership in an Evolving World Order,” East Asia,
vol. 30, no. 1 (2013): 31-51. PDF posted on blackboard
Rhys Jenkins and Alexandre Barbosa, “Fear for Manufacturing? China and the Future of Industry
in Brazil and Latin America,” The China Quarterly, vol. 209 (2012): 59-81.
PDF posted on blackboard
April 17: Argentina---A Newfound Friend in China?
Jorge Eduardo Malena, “China and Argentina: Beyond the Quest for Natural Resources,” in
Hearn and Leon-Manriquez, eds. China Engages Latin America. PDF posted on blackboard
Eduardo Daniel Oviedo, “Argentina Facing China: Modernization, Interests, and Economic
Relations Model,” East Asia, vol. 30 (2013): 7-34.
PDF posted on blackboard
THE CHINESE CENTURY: ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Week 15: Environment & Energy Issues
April 22: Environment
Elizabeth Economy, “The Great Leap Backward?” Foreign Affairs (September/October 2007).
PDF posted on blackboard
Doug Guthrie, China in the Global Economy (New York, NY: Routledge, 2012), pp. 157-176.
PDF posted on blackboard
April 24: Energy
Wenran Jiang, “China and India Come to Latin America for Energy,” in Sidney Weintraub, ed.,
Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and
International Studies, 2007), pp. 476-494. PDF posted on blackboard
Luisa Palacios, “Latin America as China’s Energy Supplier,” in Roett and Paz, eds., China's
Expansion into the Western Hemisphere, pp. 170-192.
Week 16: Wrapping Up
April 29: Final Presentations
May 1: Final Presentations
Take-Home Final Exam Due on May 10 at 6:00 pm. Please submit through “turn-it-in” on
Blackboard.
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