MARTIN VIEIRO Chinese (Un)Official Development Aid
jor infrastructure, social development, energy, mining,
and agricultural projects.” While these loans fit the definition of “aid,” it is clear the Chinese see it as a win-win
since it locks in supply of a much-needed, highly volatile raw material.
In 2010, the Argentine government received a $10 bil-
lion loan from the CDB. The loan will be used to build a
new high-speed rail system and update the Buenos Ai-
res subway system. Again, the agreement satisfied both
of China’s requirements for aid. It ensured that Argenti-
na’s plentiful farmlands are able to export their goods
in a cost-effective manner. Additionally, the loans are
linked to purchases of six locomotives and 160 coaches
for inter-city services, and 279 metro cars from CSR Cor-
poration Limited, a Chinese state-owned enterprise
and the largest rolling stock manufacturer in the world.
RESTRICTIONS AGAINST CHINESE
LAND OWNERSHIP
Mark Keller
With the rise of China’s middle class has come changes in the
national diet, with many
families now consuming
a greater amount of
meat. To satisfy domestic
market demands, China
has looked to Latin
America. The newfound
taste for beef and pork
has generated huge
export booms in Argentina,
Brazil and Uruguay—the
region’s major producers
of meat and soya—in the
past decade.
Many Chinese com-
panies have opted to go
straight to the source, ac-
quiring land directly in
South America to manage
the sowing and harvesting
of its future agriculture im-
ports. But efforts to lock
up some of the world’s
most arable land have be-
come a thorny issue. In
2008 Brazil introduced
legislation to restrict the
ownership of rural land by
foreigners. Argentina followed suit in 2011, and a
similar bill is under consideration in Uruguay.
“The attitude is, if we’re
the ones who produce
these resources, we’re going to be the ones to export them,” says Juliana
Bertazzo, a native Brazilian and fellow at University College London.
Antonio Delfim Netto, a
former finance minis-
ter and current profes-
sor of economics at the
University of São Paulo,
has called China’s efforts
to acquire Brazilian land
“neocolonialism.”
Aversion to Chinese
land ownership is not
rooted in concerns over
food security, which drives
China’s outreach, but
rather food sovereignty.
“Brazilians should have
access to these resources
before foreigners,” says
Bertazzo. In Argentina,
the Kirchner government
views land as a nonrenewable resource. The
bill proposed last April
would limit total foreign
ownership to 20 percent
of the country’s fertile
land. Foreigners now own
as much as 10 percent
of Argentina’s rural land,
by some estimates. That
number is unimaginable
in Brazil, where even
unofficial estimates put
the figure at 2 percent.
Regulation and quality
of investment are serious
concerns in both countries.
“Brazil has weak state con-
trol […] and cannot en-
sure that this agricultural
investment correlates to
‘rational use of land’ as
outlined in the Brazilian
Constitution,” Bertazzo
says. In Argentina, some
worry that large foreign
agro-businesses will ex-
ploit the land and leave it
barren for future genera-
tions. Eduardo Barcesat, a
lawyer and law professor
at the University of Bue-
nos Aires involved in draft-
ing Argentina’s legislation,
said the law would prevent
this. “We have the land,
they [foreigners] should
bring something that adds
value […] ‘Investment’ is
when someone brings
technology, not when he
buys a field.”
It’s more than just se-
mantics. Barcesat says
that the bill provides an
opportunity for Argentines
to “recover something as
momentous as national
sovereignty.” Others say it
was just political posturing
by the Kirchner govern-
ment in an election year.
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
111 Americas Quarterly WINTER 2012
