The perception of the leaders of the Latin American region about China; A case study of Brazil and Argentina

Brazil and Argentina are among the countries with high political and economic weight in Latin America, which developed their political and economic relations with China during the last few decades. A lot of research have been conducted about China's presence in Latin America and specifically about Brazil and Argentina, which examined the strategy, goals, challenges and opportunities of bilateral cooperation between China and the countries of the region, but most of these studies looks at the relationship between Latin American countries and great powers from the perspective of “Dependency Theory”, which sees the development of the center dependent on backwardness of the peripheral environment, but in this paper by studying the perceptions of the leaders of Brazil and Argentina as two major countries in the region, has been tried to explain that the mentioned countries are trying to adjust their foreign policy in order to reduce their asymmetric dependence on traditional hegemons in the region like the United States and increase their autonomy by replacing emerging powers like China in Latin America.
Here the question is raised; what are the determining factors on the interest or disinterest of Latin American countries to China? As the largest trading partner in South America, China is active in Latin America with the main motivation of importing raw materials and participating in construction and energy projects, but what is the motivation of the leaders of Brazil and Argentina as the two largest economies of South America in communicating with China? From the study of Brazil and Argentina's relationship with China as a new power in the region, this hypothesis is proposed that the sectarian origin of the ruling governments of Brazil and Argentina as an internal factor, and the threat of the hegemonic control of the United States over Latin America as the foreign factor, determines the attitude of Argentina and Brazil towards China. In other words, the geopolitical changes in Latin America are a factor affecting the perception and level of interaction between the countries of the region and the Asian giant. Thus, in the first decade of the 21st century, with the emergence of the "pink tide” or “marea rosa” and the dominance of socialist and left-wing governments, there was a positive view of the development of interactions with China, but the flow of protest during the next decade and the rise of right-wing and populist powers, has been accompanied by a decrease in public favor towards China.
The theoretical framework of the study is based on the theories of development, dependence, and autonomy. To advance and expand this study with a qualitative research method, has been tried to collect information and statistics based on open internet data, scientific articles, and official documents published in countries China-Brazil-Argentina, and the text of the speeches of the presidents of Brazil and Argentina. Also, statistics obtained from reliable surveys in the region have been used, which are mostly quantitative. Therefore, the so-called above research method is bricolage.
 At first, after the outline of the subject, the definition of concepts and some related theories are discussed, then the official position and goals of China in Latin America are briefly explained, followed by the description of the current situation in the relationship between the countries of Argentina and Brazil with China. Using quantitative and qualitative research, efforts are made to examine the perception of the leaders of these governments towards China. Of course, the above study only researched a limited period of the two governments of Brazil and Argentina. Certainly, if this study is carried out at the level of different governments of each country, will provide more accurate results, which requires separate work, and considered the limitations of this study.
After all is said and done, it can be concluded that compared to the 60s and 70s and the period of the emergence of dependency theories, today the concept of hegemon has been changed, which requires a revision of the definition of the relationship between countries and superior powers. From this perspective it can be said that the degree of desire of the leaders of Brazil and Argentina to China is largely affected by their sectarian origin (depend on their political party). In the era of left-wing governments in Latin America, there is a greater desire to communicate with China, and in the era of right-wing governments, the opposite is true.
On the other hand, apart from the sectarian origin factor, and the public opinion of these countries as another affecting factor, the third factor that plays an effective role in regulating their foreign policy is the efforts of Brazil and Argentina in “balance of threat” against the United States. The existence of colonial history and the intervention of the United States, which has marked long years of military dictatorship in these countries, today has caused these countries to look for an alternative to American financial aid and investment in their countries. They intend to replace America with China to reduce their unipolar dependence and lead to a higher percentage of autonomy against the traditional hegemon. Therefore, the main reason of inclination of the leaders of these countries, even sometimes in right-wing governments, is balance of threat against America's dominance over the Latin American region.