China has shifted its investments in Latin America towards strategic sectors such as critical minerals, technology and renewable energy as it challenges the US and Europe in key 21st-century economic battlegrounds, a study has found, reports the Financial Times. The shift in emphasis from costly infrastructure projects came as new investment in the region fell, but alarm grew in the US and Europe about growing Chinese competition for economic supremacy.
The drop in investment levels did not reflect a lack of interest in Latin America and the Caribbean but rather China’s much tighter focus on high-tech and strategic areas, said the report released on Monday by the Inter-American Dialogue.
On average, China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America reached $14.2 billion per year between 2010 and 2019 but fell to an average of $7.7 billion from 2020 to 2021, and then to $6.4 billion in 2022, the last full year for which data was available.