China's economic clout grows in south America.

In the company of an entourage of 200 businessmen and government officials, Communist Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Argentina on November 11. His Latin American tour included a visit to Cuba and a two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile.

"China, which more than doubled its trade volume with Latin America last year, is looking at the region as a source of natural resources for its explosive economic growth," observed the November 11 Washington Times. "The Latin American nations, meanwhile, see Chinese investment as the key to kick-starting their economies, which are struggling to recover from recent failures."

One telling sign of China's economic ascendancy could be seen at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, where anticipation of President Hu's arrival sent stocks to record highs. Media accounts of the visit predicted that a China-Argentina economic accord "could bring $20 billion in Chinese investments, mostly for infrastructure and energy projects"--what would be "the nation's first major capital infusion since its economic collapse in 2001."

"Sino-Latin American co-operation is facing an unprecedented historical opportunity," declared Hu in a November 14 address to Brazil's national congress. "We should seize it and work side-by-side to push this friendly co-operation towards continuous progress." He expressed the hope that China and the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, through growing economic interdependence and cultural exchanges, would come to "support each other politically, and become trusted friends."