Evan Ellis - Colombia's Relationship with the PRC
Dear Colleague,
With this email, I am proud to share with you my in-depth report on Colombia’s relationship with the PRC, and prospects for its evolution and deepening under the new Colombian administration of Gustavo Petro. The work, just published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is the fruit of a ten-day engagement in Bogota and Medellin in October 2022, in which I had the opportunity to interview a broad range of China-focused academics, businesspeople, and other experts.
In the work, I detail the increasing number of Chinese projects and commercial operations in Colombia, in sectors from petroleum and mining, to infrastructure, telecommunications, ride sharing, surveillance, cloud computing, and other digital sectors, as well as automotive (including electric busses and cars), and hydro, wind and solar energy, among others.
This impressive growth in PRC commercial and other engagement in Colombia reflects growing ties between PRC and Colombia-based businesspeople and government officials, and experience by the PRC and its companies in doing business in Colombia’s complex environment. While Chinese projects, as others, in the petroleum and mining sector, could be adversely impacted by the new tax and environmental policies of the Petro administration, others, in areas such as green energy, and digital sectors, arguably stand to benefit. The Petro government’s political orientation also raises the possibility of Colombia joining China’s Belt and Road initiative, and the resumption of certain forms of security and political cooperation, slowed down during the conservative Duque administration.
This work is the first of two to come out of my interviews and research in Colombia. The second, on Colombia’s security and strategic outlook under the new Petro government, will be published also by CSIS, later this month.
The article is available here for download:
It is also available from CSIS, which published it, at:
https://www.csis.org/analysis/colombias-relationship-prc
My Latest Podcasts
Per my previous emails, the latest episodes of my weekly hour-long radio segment discussing Latin America with renowned talkshow host John Batchelor, “The New World Report.” are available at:
Peru: https://audioboom.com/posts/8194726-newworldreport-peru-struggles-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis-u-s-army-war-coll
Mexico: https://audioboom.com/posts/8194725-newworldreport-amlo-and-the-usmca-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis-u-s-army-war
Venezuela: https://audioboom.com/posts/8194722-newworldreport-maduro-and-the-abuse-of-the-amazon-neo-tropical-forest-latin-american-research
Cuba: https://audioboom.com/posts/8194720-newworldreport-biden-administration-visits-havana-latin-american-research-professor-evan-ellis
Website for all Publications:
As always, at my professional website you can access the present, and all of my past publications, as well as select webinars and podcasts:
https://revanellis.com/
Book on China-Latin America:
My latest book, China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy, is available through my publisher Palgrave-Macmillan, at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-96049-0
Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. If you would like to be included in my (always free) distribution list, I welcome the opportunity to include you:
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work.
Respectfully,
R. Evan Ellis, PhD
Latin America Research Professor
U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
@REvanEllis
Website: https://revanellis.com