America’s backyard

Meanwhile, China is signalling its determination to raise its own profile in the US backyard, Latin America. The day after Obama’s election, Beijing issued its first official paper on China’s goals and objectives in Latin America.

The release of the paper comes as Hu prepares to travel to Cuba, Costa Rica and Peru after attending a November 15 international summit on the global financial crisis in Washington. As in Africa, so in Latin America, China’s focus is on gaining access to the vast mineral resources of the continent. The paper called for a further expansion of already booming trade with the region and promised to negotiate free trade agreements for mutual benefit.

If China’s expanding economic presence in Latin America raised eyebrows in Washington, Beijing’s new talk of stepping up its defence cooperation with the South American nations is likely to invite greater scrutiny from the next administration in Washington.

“The Chinese side will actively carry out military exchanges and defence dialogue and cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries,” the paper said. Beijing is also ready to “discuss” debt relief for Latin American and Caribbean nations “as China’s ability permits”, it added.

Cyber attacks

Speculation is mounting that Chinese security agencies might have been involved in hacking the computer systems of the campaign headquarters of Obama and his Republican rival, Senator John McCain.

During the summer, the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation warned the Obama and McCain teams that their computer networks had been compromised by “a foreign entity”, which is said to be a code for China. The campaign teams thought they had a virus problem.

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