1. Introduction: Sino-Latin American Relations in Strategic Transition

The era of transition between China and Latin America seems to be following a perfect timing between commitments and responses and policy dynamics. Therefore, this book is divided into three sections. The first section analyzes China’s new economic and political commitments to Latin America and the subsequent responses from the governments and citizens of the countries in the region. The second section elaborates on the traditional realms of interaction between China and Latin America, namely, trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), and introduces two increasingly pertinent topics in the field of Sino-Latin American studies—agriculture and intellectual property. This book would have been incomplete without presenting the specific studies that have taken dominance in Sino-Latin American and Caribbean (Sino-LAC) relations in the twenty-first century: the cultural dimensions, the relevance of civil society in this engagement, and the social impacts derived from different forms of interaction; these studies have been included in the third section of this book.