China Counterplan - JDI 2013

8/13/2019 China Counterplan - JDI 2013

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China CP



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1NC Cuba CP-GenericCP TEXT: China should *insert plan*

China Seeks Closer Ties with CubaDavis and Ma 12Bob Davis and Wayne Ma (Staff writers for the Wall Street Journal) July 5, 2012, “Cuba Seeks Closer Ties With Beijing”, The W all Street Journal,Online @ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303684004577508432963724246.html, Accessed July 1, 2013]

BEIJING—Cuban President Raúl Castro is looking to strengthen the country's economic ties toBeijing as it moves to liberalize its economy somewhat and limit its energy dependence onVenezuela, whose leader is battling cancer and faces a tough election at home .¶ Enlarge Image¶Reuters¶ Cuba's President Raúl Castro, right, and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony inBeijing on Thursday.¶ Mr. Castro landed in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with China's top leaders before heading out to Vietnam on Saturday,touring onetime Communist fellow travelers that have revamped their economies. On Thursday, Cuban representatives signed economic,

technology and agricultural agreements with Chinese officials, though few specifics were disclosed.¶ "Currently relations arematuring with each passing day," Mr. Castro said Thursday in an appearance with China

President Hu Jintao. "The relationship has passed the test of time ."¶ Since 2011, Cuba has begunencouraging the formation of private enterprises, permitting property and automobile sales, and reducing the role of the state in agriculture.Still, the Cuban economy grew less than 3% in 2011, nowhere near the pace of Asian nations.¶ Chinese technocrats and academics are workingon a dozen projects to help remake the Cuban economy, including infrastructure, transportation and energy, said Xu Shicheng, a Cuba expert atthe Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. While Cuba has made progress, "most importantly, there is a need to update the people's mentality,"he said. "Many people in Cuba think that updating the private sector means adopting capitalism. It will take Cuba a long time to accomplish

what China did."¶ Mr. Castro's visit comes as China tries to be a major player in Latin Americanaffairs . Already, China is a major destination for commodities from Brazil and Argentina, and is boosting investment in the region, especiallyin energy projects.¶ Beijing also has long been involved in a tug of war with Taiwan over diplomatic recognition by Central American andCaribbean countries, which play off Taipei against Beijing.¶ Cuba is a nation of just 11 million people but it has long been a foreign-affairs flashpoint because of the charismatic leadership of former President Fidel Castro and its struggles against the U.S. There are abou t 1.5 millionCuban-Americans, many of whom live in Florida and other politically important states.¶ Havana has relied on exports of oil from its closest ally,

Venezuela, headed by President Hugo Chávez, who also had pledged in 2007 to help Cuba build or expand its refining capacity. But Venezueladidn't follow through, and after the global financial crisis, China stepped in. State-controlled China National Petroleum Corp. signed a $4.5billion deal last year to upgrade Cuba's Cienfuegos refinery.¶ Havana also needs help in exploring for oil offshore, especially in the Gulf ofMexico. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that drilling in the area thus far has been "quite limited."¶ "Cuba needs to try tomanage what happens if there is a change in government in Caracas tomorrow, either by the death of Chávez or by Chávez losing the election,"

said Jorge Piñon, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. " I personally believe that China would make animportant long-term strategic partner for Cuba, particularly after a possible economic andpolitical vacuum left by a change of administration in Caracas and even after a post-embargoscenario ."¶ Enlarge Image¶ Cuba and China have had a complicated relationship since China started to open its economy to outsideinvestment in 1978, to veer sharply from communist orthodoxy and to increasingly court the U.S.¶ Fidel Castro stridently opposed reform thatsmacked of capitalism, and continued to see the U.S. as an enemy —a view that was largely reciprocated in Washington. After the Soviet Unioncollapsed in 1991 and cut off subsidized oil shipments to Cuba, Mr. Castro resented China, say Cuba watchers, because China did little to fill thevoid.¶ Fidel Castro's brother Raúl, who was then defense minister, was seen as more open to market-oriented changes. In 2003, he invitedChina's then-premier, Zhu Rongji, who played a leading role in opening up China to foreign trade and investment, to give a series of lectures inCuba. Fidel Castro was a no-show, said Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence officer.¶ But Raúl Castro was hardly a closetcapitalist. In 2008, when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Cuba, according to news reports, Raúl serenaded him with a rendition of theChinese standard "The East Is Red," a Chinese favorite during the Mao era.¶ Under Fidel Castro, Cuba g rew more reliant on oil-rich Venezuela.But after Mr. Castro became seriously ill in 2006, he temporarily ceded power to his brother, who then formally became president in 2008.When the Cuban government formally approved economic reforms last year, Fidel Castro was in attendance, which was seen as giving hisblessing to the changes. Fidel Castro, now 85 years old, writes newspaper columns, but avoids domestic economic issues, said Mr. Xu, the

Chinese analyst.¶ For his part, Mr. Chávez is struggling with cancer and faces a tough presidential election in October.¶ The 81-year-oldRaúl Castro has further cemented ties to China . In June 2011, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to take

China's top positions in the government and Communist Party by next year, visited Havana. The two countries have been

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303684004577508432963724246.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303684004577508432963724246.html



working on projects in oil exploration, hotel construction, biotechnology and infrastructure .¶"The big picture is that Cuba is still trying to get used to the idea of the 'new China,' which Fidel has long detested and Raúl finds, well,intriguing," says Harvard University professor Jorge Domínguez, a Cuba expert.¶ This is Raúl Castro's third trip to China since 1997, said Mr. Xu,the Chinese expert. "What's different this time is his status. He is visiting as the No. 1 leader."



A2: Relations

China-Cuban Relations Continue to Remain StrongXinhua 11 (the official press agency of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and pressconferences in China) 6/4/ 11 , [―China-Cuba relations in good shape: Chinese ambassador, , Xinhua News Agency, 7/1/13, Online,http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-06/04/c_13910777.htm, Dom]China maintains a good relationship with Cuba in politics and their cooperative relationsare growing rapidly in economy and trade, Chinese Ambassador to Cuba Liu Yuqin hassaid. Liu made the remarks in an interview earlier this week with Xinhua ahead of the upcoming Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to

the Caribbean island country. Xi is scheduled to arrive in Havana on Saturday evening . "China-Cuba relations have been ingood shape in various areas in recent years with frequent exchanges of high-level visits," she

said. Noting the rapid growth in bilateral economic and trade ties, Liu said that China hasbecome Cuba's second largest trade partner after Venezuela, while Cuba is one of China'smajor trade partners in Latin America. "Meanwhile, the two sides have carried outcooperative projects in some areas," she said. " China sent agriculturists to Cuba a decade agoand helped set up jointly-funded farms in eastern Cuba to grow rice," Liu said. And the two

countries are also carrying out some projects in China. In Beijing, China's capital, the two sides areengaged in joint production of anti-cancer drugs, while in northeast China, they are running a jointventure on other pharmaceuticals, she said. "All in all, our cooperation has been fruitful,"said Liu. On political relations, Liu said that Cuba established diplomatic relations withChina in 1960, becoming the first nation in Latin America to foster ties with New China."We'll never forget Cuba's support and help at the time when China was in difficulties,"she said. China has been firmly on Cuba's side in its struggle against the blockade policyimposed by the United States some 50 years ago, while Cuba has offered solid support forChina on major issues of core interests, such as the issues of Taiwan and Tibet, Liu said."Cuba has always been China's close friend, comrade and partner," she said. On Cuba'scurrent economic reform, Liu said that the process of the reform is "extremely positive."

"Cuba is exploring a development path suited to its national conditions," she said. Against the backdrop of profound changes on the international scene, Liu wished the Cuban people greater achievement onthe road they have chosen.

China and Cuba sign new bilateral agreementsHavana Times 6/3 (China to Invest in Cuba Golf Courses; www.havanatimes.org/?p=94034; kdf)Kevin L.HAVANA TIMES – Cuba and China signed several agreements to boost bilateral cooperation, including agreements to

promote the construction of golf courses on the island, reported DPA news .¶ Representatives of the two countries signed on

Sunday in Havana several agreements in the fields of transport, tourism, industry and biotechnology , the papersaid. ¶ Among them “is the project of creating joint ventures to build gol f courses in areas surround the capital Havana as well as the far western

province of Pinar del Río” explained the official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba. ¶ The agreements were signed during thevisit to the island of the Chinese Communist Party secretary for Beijing , Guo Jinlong. ¶ The construction of golfcourses is one of the more recent brainchild’s of Raul Castro’s government as a way to boost tourism, one of the main pillars of the island’seconomy.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-06/04/c_13910777.htm

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-06/04/c_13910777.htm



battling cancer and faces a tough election at home. Cuba's President Raúl Castro, right, and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao inspect an honor

guard during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing on Thursday. Mr. Castro landed in Beijing on Wednesday to meet withChina's top leaders before heading out to Vietnam on Saturday, touring onetime Communist fellow travelers that

have revamped their economies. On Thursday, Cuban representatives signed economic, technology andagricultural agreements with Chinese officials, though few specifics were disclosed. "Currentlyrelations are maturing with each passing day," Mr. Castro said Thursday in an appearance with China President Hu Jintao. "The relationship has

passed the test of time." Since 2011, Cuba has begun encouraging the formation of private enterprises, permitting property and automobile sales, and reducing the role of the state in agriculture. Still,the Cuban economy grew less than 3% in 2011, nowhere near the pace of Asian nations. Chinesetechnocrats and academics are working on a dozen projects to help remake the Cuban economy,including infrastructure, transportation and energy, said Xu Shicheng, a Cuba expert at theChinese Academy of Social Sciences. While Cuba has made progress, "most importantly, there is a need to update the people'smentality," he said. "Many people in Cuba think that updating the private sector means adopting capitalism. It will take Cuba a long time toaccomplish what China did."

Influence in Cuba Key to Chin a’s Overall Latin American A genda.Hearn 9 . [Adrian, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, and Kiriyama Research Fellow at the University of San FranciscoCenter for the Pacific Rim, "China's relations with Mexico and Cuba: A Study of Contrasts" Pacific Rim Report -- No 52 -- January --usf.usfca.edu/pac_rim/new/research/pacrimreport/pacrimreport52.html]

China is Cuba’s second largest trading partner after Venezuela, with 2.7 billion dollars in bilateral trade reported for 2007

(Cubaencuentro 2008). This trade is more valuable to Cuba than to China, though this could change ifChinese oil, nickel, and electronics manufacturing operations in Cuba expand . Furthermore, for the eightresource- rich countries that comprise Latin America’s “New Left”, Cuba is a unique ideological symbolof resistance to U.S. hegemony. For China, whose pursuit of Latin American natural resources is at least as

voracious as that of the United States, cooperation with Cuba , strongly supported by Raúl Castro, decreases the dangerof being perceived in the region as an external —potentially imperialistic —threat to economic sovereignty .



A2: U.S.- Cuban Relations Good

US Continues to View Cuba as a Threat, Isolating the Country for Almost Half a CenturyTeo Ballve, 4/23/20 12 (Staffwriter at the Progressive )*“Obama’s failed relationship with Latin America” The Progressive Online at http://www.progressive.org/obama_latin_america.html accessedJuly 2, 2013, AV]

The real dividing line in U.S. policy toward Cuba is how best to undermine the Castro regime and hasten the island’s day of l iberation . Foralmost half a century, the U.S. government has tried to isolate Cuba economically in an effort toundermine the regime and deprive it of resources. Since 1960, Americans have been barred from tradingwith, investing in, or traveling to Cuba. The embargo had a national security rationale before 1991, when Castro served as the

Soviet Union’s proxy in the Wester n Hemisphere. But all that changed with the fall of Soviet communism. Today , more than a decadeafter losing billions in annual economic aid from its former sponsor , Cuba is only a poor and dysfunctionalnation of 11 million that poses no threat to American or regional security.

Cuba-US Relations Deteriorating, Cuba Continues to Suffer from U.S. Antagonism andMisrepresentationParenti 4Michael Parenti (an American political scientist, historian, and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught atAmerican and international universities and has been a guest lecturer before campus and community audiences.[1][2] He has played an activistrole in political struggles, and in various anti- war movements) September 2004, “U.S. Aggression & Propaganda Against Cuba”,http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Caribbean/US_Aggression_Cuba.html, accessed July 2, 2013]

In recent times, U.S.-Cuban relations have gone from bad to worse . Under the Administration of George W.

Bush, the U.S. boycott has been more stringently imposed. Anti-government agitation within Cuba has beenfinanced and directed by the U.S. interest section in Havana . State Department restrictions on travel to theisland have become tighter than ever. Most ominously of all, in early 2003 U.S. pundits began openly talking about invading Cuba-a discussion

that was temporarily put on hold only after the invasion of Iraq proved so costly.¶ For over four decades Washington

policymakers have treated Cuba with unrelieved antagonism . U.S. rulers and their faithful acolytes in themajor media have propagated every sort of misrepresentation to mislead the world as regards theirpolicy of aggression toward Cuba . Why?¶ Defending Global Capitalism¶ in June 1959, some five months after the triumph ofthe Cuban Revolution, the Havana government promulgated an agrarian reform law that provided for state appropriation of large privatelandholdings. Under this law, U.S. sugar corporations eventually lost about 1,666,000 acres of choice land and many millions of dollars in futurecash-crop exports. The following year, President Dwight Eisenhower, citing Havana's "hostility" toward the United States, cut Cuba's sugarquota by about 95 percent, in effect imposing a total boycott on publicly produced Cuban sugar. Three months later, in October 1959, theCuban government nationalized all banks and large commercial and industrial enterprises, including the many that belonged to U.S. firms.¶Cuba's move away from a free-market system dominated by U.S. firms and toward a not-for-profit socialist economy caused it to become the

target of an unremitting series of attacks perpetrated by the U.S . national security state. These attacks included U.S.-sponsored sabotage, espionage, terrorism, hijackings, trade sanctions, embargo, and outrightinvasion . The purpose behind this aggression was to undermine the Revolution and deliver Cuba safely back to the tender mercies of global

capitalism.¶ The U.S. policy toward Cuba has been consistent with its longstanding policy of tryingto subvert any country that pursues an alternative path in the use of its land, labor, capital,markets, and natural resources . Any nation or political movement that emphasizes self-development, egalitarian humanservices, and public ownership is condemned as an enemy and targeted for sanctions or other forms of attack. In contrast, the countriesdeemed "friendly toward America" and "pro-West" are those that leave themselves at the disposal of large U.S. investors on terms that aretotally favorable to the moneyed corporate interests.¶ Of course, this is not what U.S. rulers tell the people of North America. As early as July1960, the White House charged that Cuba was "hostile" to the United S tates (despite the Cuban government's repeated overtures for normalfriendly relations). The Castro government, in Eisenhower's words, was "dominated by international communism." U.S. officials repeatedlycharged that the island government was a cruel dictatorship and that the United States had no choice but to try "restoring" Cuban liberty.¶ U.S.rulers never explained why they were so suddenly concerned about the freedoms of the Cuban people. In the two decades before theRevolution, successive Administrations in Washington manifested no opposition to the brutally repressive autocracy

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U.S. Not Willing to Lift the Embargo on Cuba-Too StubbornGeorge 13 (nqa) [Samuel, ―Cuba in Transition, Will the US Respond?, FutureChallenges, 7/2/13, Online,http://futurechallenges.org/news/cuba-in-transition-will-the-us-respond/, Dom]

The U nited S tates’ embargo against Cuba is like the war on drugs – everyone in Washingtonrealizes the policy is shortsighted and ineffective, yet nobody steps forward to change it . TheSoviets appear increasingly unlikely to use Cuba as a conduit to spread international communism throughout the Americas. Anyone worth their

salt on the Hill, from the State Department, or the Treasury will privately admit as much. Yet the policy remains firmly entrenched. The same Hillstaffer that admits the anachronistic fallacy underlying the Cold War campaign will simply shrugit off as an inevitable fact of life: death, taxes, and the embargo on Cuba. The USstubbornly sticks to a bad policy because it is good politics. Yes, the War on Drugs is counterproductive, but aslong as ―tough-on-drugs continues to poll well, the electoral reward for reform seems scant. Similarly, anything but the hardest line on Cuba

could cost either party Florida and, in turn, a national election. This is unfortunate. Winds of change are stirring in Cuba,yet the US s stubbornness, embodied in the 1996 Helms -Burton act, could lead Uncle Samto blow the opportunity.

Bad Blood Between Cuba and the U.S.---Relations Not Expected to Improve forGenerationsJones 8Howard Jones (is the author of The Bay of Pigs (which will be published in August), and UniversityResearch Professor in the Department of History at the University of Alabama - See more at:http://blog.oup.com/2008/03/cuba/#sthash.XtTVNMKZ.dpuf ) 2008, ―Bad Blood: U.S. -Cuban Relationsafter Fidel , http://blog.oup.com/2008/03/cuba/ BDGiven relations between the United States and Cuba over the last 50 years, one should notexpect matters to change despite Fidel s resignation. There is bad blood between the twocountries . And no event did more to make this bad blood than the Bay of Pigs, almost routinelyreferred to as a ―fiasco. On April 17, 1961, Cuban exiles trained and sponsored by the UnitedStates launched an invasion of the island whose planning began in the Eisenhower administration

but whose execution occurred during the Kennedy administration.¶ As I did the research for my

forthcoming book on the Bay of Pigs, I was struck again and again by how ―bad blood was barely a metaphor, and reflected not just relations between Cuba and the United States, but between the CIA and the State Department, and between the Cold War veterans of theEisenhower administration and Kennedy’s brash new brain trust. However it might have startedas a hare-brained CIA scheme, an extension of equally hare-brained attempts to assassinateCastro, the Bay of Pigs invasion became a personal battle between Kennedy and Castro, twoyoung leaders taking command of their countries’ destinies in a tumultuous time.¶ And it washare- brained. Recently released ―Family Jewels from the CIA show publicly for the first t imethat agency director Allen Dulles approved recruiting the Mafia as a partner in the assassination

plan. Richard Bissell, the CIA’s brilliant Deputy Director of Plans, was a novice in charge of―black operations and yet the architect of both the invasi on and the assassination tracks of the

plan. Under his tutelage, the CIA recruited underworld luminaries John Roselli (a rovingambassador who made offers a client could not refuse), Sam Giancana (the psychopathicGodfather of the north in Chicago), and Santo Trafficante (the cool and sinister Godfather of thesouth).¶ After the Bay of Pigs, the Kennedys became obsessed with removing Castro byeither assassination or a second invasion, this time dependent on direct American militaryforce. The president even condoned assassination as an instrument of foreign policy in anexecutive action program based in the CIA and code-named ZR/RIFLE. To eliminate Castro,the Kennedy White House established Operation Mongoose, overseen by the attorney

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general and run by legendary OSS/CIA figure Edward Lansdale, which tacitly approvedassassination by placing no restrictions on the methods used . CIA operative William Harveyheaded a three-pronged effort to assassinate the Cuban leader: the executive actionprogram; Task Force W (part of Mongoose); and a revived Mafia alliance .¶ Contrary to thetraditional story, the Kennedy administration resumed its efforts to dispose of Castro after the

Cuban missile crisis, primarily out of anger over his welcoming Soviet missile sites. Both beforeand after the crisis the CIA colluded with Rolando Cubela (code-named AMLASH), a high-ranking Cuban military officer who had become disenchanted with Castro and wanted to killhim. Ironically, Cubela was meeting with a CIA officer in Paris on November 22, 1963, whennews arrived of President Kennedy’s assassination. Were the two events related? PresidentLyndon Johnson thought so: ―Kennedy tried to get Castro, but Castro got Kennedy first. ¶ Allthese factors have combined to leave a legacy of ill will that post-Kennedy presidentialadministrations have refused to reassess, at first for reasons relating to the Cold War paranoiastemming from the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era, and afterward, for fear ofalienating a huge Cuban populace inside the United States, whether for or against Castro.¶ Thislegacy still hovers like a dark cloud over any talk of normalizing relations. For a host of reasons,

the animosity between Washington and Havana remains almost visceral. The loss of trust willtake generations to restore, and nothing contributed to it more than the Bay of Pigs .

Castro unwilling to sacrifice the support of the Cuban elites and other countries inexchange for a relationship with the USSUCHLICKI 1/14Jaime Suchlicki (Ph.D., Texas Christian University (1967), Professor Suchlicki was the founding ExecutiveDirector of the North-South Center, and until 1992, Director of the University's Research Institute forCuban Studies. He is currently the Latin American Editor for Transaction Publishers. Professor Suchlicki isthe author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fourth edition, and Mexico: From Montezumato NAFTA (1996). He is a highly regarded consultant to the private and public sector on Cuba and Latin

American Affairs), 1 /14/2013, Miami Herald, “Raúl Castro’s Cuba in 2013”,http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/14/3178528/raul-castros-cuba-in-2013.html, accessed July 5,2013, BDAfter six years in power, Gen. Raúl Castro is unwilling to chart a radically new course for Cuba or offerconcessions to the U.S . Yet expectations remain that the younger Castro will follow the Chinese or the Vietnamese model and even find an

accommodation with the United States. ¶ Wrong on both counts. With Fidel alive, or even when he is dead, it would be difficultfor Raúl to reject his brother’s legacy of political and economic centralization. Raúl’s legitimacy isbased on being Fidel’s heir. Any major move to reject Fidel’s “teachings” would create uncertaintyamong Cuba’s ruling elites — party and military. It could also increase instability as some wouldadvocate rapid change, while others cling to more orthodox policies . Cubans could see this as an opportunity formobilization, demanding faster reforms. ¶ For Raúl, the uncertainties of unco rking the genie’s bottle in Cuba are greater than keeping the lid on and movingcautiously. For the past 52 years, political considerations have always dictated economic policies. ¶ Raúl does not seem ready to provide meaningful and irreversible

concessions for a U.S.-Cuba nor malization. Like his brother in the past, public statements and speeches are politicallymotivated and directed at audiences in Cuba, the United States and Europe . Serious negotiations on important issuesare not carried out in speeches from the plaza. They are usually carried out through the normal diplomatic avenues open to the Cubans in Havana, Washington andthe United Nations or other countries, if they wish. These avenues have never been closed as evidenced by the migration accord and the anti-hijacking agreement

between the United States and Cuba. ¶ Raúl is unwilling to renounce the support and close collaboration of countrieslike Venezuela, China, Iran and Russia in exchange for an uncertain relationship with the UnitedStates . At a time that anti- Americanism is strong in Latin America and elsewhere, Raúl’s policies are more likely to remain closer to regimes that are no tparticularly friendly to the United States and that demand little from Cuba in return for generous aid. ¶ Raúl is no Deng Xiaoping and no friend of the United States. ¶ He had been the longest serving Minister of Defense (47 years). He presided over the worst periods of political repression and economic centralization in Cuba andis responsible for numerous executions after he and his brother assumed power, and some while in Mexico and the Sierra Maestra before reaching power. ¶ Raúl

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/14/3178528/raul-castros-cuba-in-2013.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/14/3178528/raul-castros-cuba-in-2013.html



1NC Mexico CP-GenericCP Text: China should *insert plan*

China and Mexico Looking to Improve Trade RelationsMalkin 13[Elisabeth, writer for the New York Times," Chinese President Makes Bridge-Building Trip to Mexico-New York Times – June 4 – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/world/americas/xi-makes-bridge-building-trip-to-mexico.html?_r=0]

As Latin America and the Caribbean become less dependent on the United States, “theyhave another economic ally, and that economic ally is a supe rpower,” said S. LynneWalker, the director of the China-Americas program at the Institute of the Americas inCalifornia . Matt Ferchen, a scholar at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, suggested that President Xi’s itinerary

may also be intended as a message to the United States. ―China wants to remind the U.S. that just as the U.S. has influence in regions close to

China, China too has rising influence in the Americas, he wrote in an e -mail. Analysts will be watching the trip closely for signs that Mexico

and China are taking steps toward changing their frosty relationship . Mexico s government would like to narrow itslarge trade gap with China. Last year, Mexico imported $57 billion in goods from Chinaand sent back only $5.7 billion in products, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Economy . Thetwo countries announced a series of agreements late Tuesday covering energy, trade andeducation. ―We agree on the importance of balancing our trade and investment relationship,Mr. Peña Nieto said , noting promises from China to start by accepting more tequila and pork imports.

Mexico and China agree that strengthening their bilateral relationship serves thecountries’ best interest Xinhua 13 (China, Mexico enter comprehensive strategic partnership; 6/5/13,english.cpc.people.com.cn/206972/206976/8272224.html; kdf) Kevin L.MEXICO CITY - Chinese PresidentXi Jinping and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto Tuesday announced to upgradethe bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. ¶ The Chinese president arrived in Mexico Cityearlier in the day for a three-day state visit aimed at lifting the China-Mexico strategic partnership to a higher level, and held talks with Pena

Nieto on bilateral cooperation. ¶ During the talks, the two presidents agreed that strengthening the China-Mexicolong-term friendly cooperation serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and twopeoples, and helps promote unity and cooperation among developing countries. ¶ Xi said the decision toupgrade the bilateral relationship is a realistic requirement, and it also sets a clear target for the development of bilateral relations. ¶ Pena

Nieto, for his part, said the upgrade of the Mexico-China ties indicates that bilateral cooperation has entered a new stage. ¶ The Mexicanside is ready to work with China to constantly improve cooperation at higher levels and through more

effective mechanisms so as to achieve common development, he said.

Big Chinese plans for economic expansion in Latin America – especially MexicoRegenstreif 13Gary, “COLUMN - The looming U.S.- China rivalry over Latin America” *http://www.trust.org/item/20130612201137 -eda5t] June 12 //RR

In Obama's first term , however, the administration was widely viewed as neglecting Latin America . And

China has moved in fast . China built its annual trade with the region from virtually nothing in 2000 to about $260

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billion in 2012 . In 2009, it overtook the United States as the largest trading partner of Brazil, the region's powerhouse - largely throughmassive purchases of iron ore and soy. Other data is telling: In 1995, for example, the United States accounted for 37 percent of Brazil's foreigndirect investment. That dropped to 10 percent in 2011, according to the Council of the Americas, which seeks to foster hemispheric ties.Washington's renewed ardor is at least partly because of the fear that China will repeat in Latin America the economic success it has built inAfrica. China has been able to present itself as a benevolent partner there, which has played well against the West's history of meddling indomestic affairs. "It's about influence and leverage," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, " • The region maturedand expects to be treated in real partnership rather than [in the] patronizing way it happened in the past." The challenges facing Beijing and

Washington lie in how each approaches the region. Washington confronts lingering resentment about its historic regional interference,stretching back to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, and its continuing desire to mix business with policy - which muddies its approach to trade andinvestment. Washington's domestic problems, its pivot to Asia and a host of global crises, also serve as distractions that could keep its actions inLatin America from matching its words - as has happened before. China, meanwhile, is largely viewed in the region as unencumbered byideology. It approaches opportunities almost exclusively on commercial terms there. Biden, in a May 29 speech in Rio d e Janeiro, gushed aboutthe progress made by Latin America and trumpeted the region's growing international stature. "In the U.S.," Biden said, "the discussion is nolonger what it was when I was first elected as a young man: What could we do for the Americas? That's long since gone. The issue now is: Whatcan we do together? We want to engage more. We think there's great opportunity. We're optimistic." As with many new starts, a recognition ofpast mistakes is in order. "For many in Brazil," Biden said, "the United States doesn't start with a clean slate. There's some good reason for thatskepticism. That skepticism still exists and it's understandable. But the world has changed. We're moving past old alignments, leaving behind

old suspicions and building new relationships." China has particular interest in Mexico, the region's second-largestmarket. Beijing has been competing with Mexico to supp ly the U.S. market with manufactured goods. But China is now looking towork with Mexico City - investing in infrastructure, mining and energy because of the expectedreforms that would open the oil industry to foreign investment. There are obstacles ahead. One irritation thatPresident Enrique Pea Nieto shared with Xi is that though Mexico posted a trade surplus with its global partners, it ran a big deficit with China.

China is looking for even more however. It is eager to pursue a free trade agreement with Mexico , butMexico City said last week it was too soon. Meanwhile, Mexico's trade with the United States continues to flourish and it is due to displace

Canada as the largest U.S. trade partner by the end of the decade, according to the Dialogue. China is also considering joiningnegotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which aims to boost trade among theAmericas, Asia and Australia. The talks include the United States, Canada and other major economieson the Pacific rim.



A2: Relations

China-Mexico Relations are StrongXinhua (the official press agency of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences

in China) 6/2/ 13 , [―Chinese president's visit to Mexico to further strengthen bilateral relat ions: senior official, Xinhua News Agency, 7/1/ 13,Online, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/102774/8267243.html, Dom]

Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Mexico will further enhance mutualunderstanding and friendly ties between the two countries , Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto

de Icaza Gonzalez said here Friday. Strengthening relations with China has always been one of thepriorities of the Mexican government , Carlos de Icaza told a news briefing with Chinese journalists. Mexico values Xi's

visit, the official said, adding that the Chinese president is the first foreign head of state to pay a statevisit to Mexico after Mexican President Pena Nieto took office in December. Bilateralrelations between China and Mexico are dynamic , De Icaza said , expressing confidence that Xi'svisit will further strengthen the ties and cooperation in various fields. Mexico has beenworking with China to build a more suitable, modern and agile framework of the bilateralrelationship, he said, noting both Mexico and China are emerging markets that play an importantrole on the world stage . De Icaza said Mexico and China have also been exploring ways toincrease Chinese investment in Mexico. He referred to Xi's visit as an opportunity to furtherreview and have a fresh look at bilateral relations established over 40 years ago. We willwait President Xi with open arms. Your visit will contribute to a better mutualunderstanding between Chinese and Mexican peoples, " he said. The Chinese president is now in Trinidad andTobago, the first leg of his three-nation Latin American tour, which will also take him to Costa Rica and Mexico. Afterwards, Xi will fly to theU.S. state of California for a summit meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on June 7-8 at Sunnylands, the Walter and Leonore Annenbergestate in Rancho Mirage.

China-Mexico Relations Continue to Remain Strong---Were Recently StrengthenedYang Yi (Editor) 6-5- 13

*“China, Mexico upgrade relationship to comprehensive strategic partnership” Xinhua Online at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-06/05/c_132431199_2.htm, accessed July 2, 2013, RR]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto Tuesday announced toupgrade the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership .¶ The Chinese president arrived inMexico City earlier in the day for a three-day state visit aimed at lifting the China-Mexico strategic partnership to a higher level, and held talks

with Pena Nieto on bilateral cooperation.¶ During the talks, the two presidents agreed that strengthening the China-Mexico long-term friendly cooperation serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and twopeoples, and helps promote unity and cooperation among developing countries .¶ Xi said the decision toupgrade the bilateral relationship is a realistic requirement, and it also sets a clear target for the development of bilateral relations.¶ Pena

Nieto, for his part, said the upgrade of the Mexico-China ties indicates that bilateral cooperation has entered a new stage.¶ The Mexicanside is ready to work with China to constantly improve cooperation at higher levels and through more

effective mechanisms so as to achieve common development , he said.¶ The two heads of state agreed to push forward the China-

Mexico comprehensive strategic partnership by working jointly in the following four aspects.¶ Firstly, the two sides will view their

relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and improve political mutual trust . The two countries willaccommodate each other 's concerns, and show mutual understanding and support on issues concerning eachother's core interests.¶ China and Mexico will maintain exchanges between high-level leaders, political parties and legislatures, give full play to

the existing consultation and dialogue mechanisms, and improve coordination on each other's development strategies.¶ Secondly, the twosides will improve practical cooperation in accordance with their development strategies, and agree to increasemutual investment in key area s such as energy, mining, infrastructure and high technology.¶ In order to promote tradebalance, China supports the increase of imports from Mexico, while Mexico welcomes Chinese

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enterprises to invest here and promises to create favorable conditions for Chinese investors. ¶ The twocountries will also maintain exchanges and learn from each other in such areas as poverty reduction,environmental protection and urbanization.¶ Thirdly, as two major countries with rich cultural traditions, China andMexico will improve cultural exchanges . Both countries will encourage more exchanges between art troupes, promote tourismand strengthen communication among students, academics, journalists and athletes.¶ China will build a Chinese cultural center in Mexico City,the first in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Mexico will establish a Mexican cultural center in Beijing as well.¶ Fourthly, China and Mexico

will improve multilateral coordination based on their common interests and responsibilities on major international issues.¶ The twocountries will maintain close communication and coordination on global economic governance,energy security, food safety and climate change .¶ They will help developing countries gain a bigger voice in the internationalcommunity, and safeguard the common interests of the two countries and the developing nations.¶ China and Mexico support theestablishment of the China-Latin America forum and promote the overall cooperation between China and Latin America at a higher level.¶After their talks, Xi and Pena Nieto signed a joint statement between the two countries, witnessed the signing of a host of agreements and jointly met the press.¶ Prior to their talks, Pena Nieto staged a grand welcoming ceremony for Xi with a 21-gun salute. Pena Nieto said at theceremony that China has become a major global economic engine and an important balancing power in international relations. ¶ Pena Nietosaid at the ceremony that China has become a major global economic engine and an important balancing power in international relations.¶ Astwo emerging powers, Mexico and China are each other's important strategic cooperative partners, and the Mexican side is ready to forgecloser ties with the Chinese side to achieve common development, the Mexican president said.¶ Pena Nieto believed Xi's visit will advancebilateral cooperation into a new stage and promote bilateral ties to a higher level.¶ Xi, for his part, said the Chinese and Mexican peoples feelclose to each other, as the two countries are both ancient civilizations and have a glorious history of f ighting bravely for national independence

and liberation.¶ Since the two sides established diplomatic ties in 1972, China and Mexico have achieved

rapid development of friendly cooperation in all fields, shown mutual understanding and support toeach other, and maintained close cooperation in international affairs, Xi said, adding that they aregood friends and good partners .¶ The Chinese president noted that China and Mexico are faced with the common task ofdeveloping economy and improving people's livelihood.¶ China is ready to work with Mexico to constantly enrich the content of bilateralstrategic partnership, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and contribute to world peace, stability and prosperity, he said.¶ Xi said his visitto Mexico aims to deepen mutual trust, expand cooperation and enhance friendship. "I believe with our joint efforts, China-Mexico relationswill enter a new stage," he said.¶ Xi, accompanied by Pena Nieto, then inspected Mexico's guard of honor. Members of the Mexican cabinetand military leaders also attended the welcoming ceremony.¶ Mexico is the last leg of Xi's ongoing three-nation Latin America tour, which hasalready taken him to Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica.¶ From Mexico, Xi will fly to the U.S. state of California to hold a summit meeting withU.S. President Barack Obama.



A2: Mexican Oil Trade

China Interested in Mexican Oil-Increasing TradeThe Associated Press for Fox News Latino , 6/2/13 , [―China's President Wants To Open The Floodgates Of TradeWith Mexico, Fox News Latino, 7/1/13, http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/2013/06/02/china-president-wants-to-open-floodgates-trade-with-mexico/, Dom]Over the last few years, China has invested heavily in resource-rich Latin America,strikingmajor trade deals with governments from Venezuela to Argentina. And now the Asian powerhouse is reaching out to Mexico , one of the few countries in the region where ties have been slow to develop On Tuesday

President Xi Jinping begins a three-day visit to the region just as Mexico debates opening its highly regulated

energy sector to more foreign investment. China's president has said he plans to address Mexico's largetrade deficit with the Asian power and discuss ways to increase Mexican exports. Analystssay that could mean oil, which Mexico has and China needs to fuel its expanding economyand the cars of its growing middle class. "Access to strategic raw materials is key tounderstanding the dynamic of relations with China," said Hugo Beteta, director for Mexico and Central America

of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Clearly there is an interest by Chinain Mexican oil. " The trip is part of a four-country regional tour that ends in the United States. Xi started in Trinidad and Tobago, wherehe also met with leaders of other Caribbean countries, and he arrives Sunday night in Costa Rica. China and Trinidad have had diplomatic ties foralmost 40 years, and Trinidad is a major trading partner in the Caribbean for China. Costa Rica is the only country in Central America to havediplomatic relations with China. U.S. trade still dwarfs China's for the three countries Xi is visiting. But China's trade with Costa Rica and withMexico has tripled since 2006, according to the International Monetary Fund. Relations with Mexico had been chilly in the past, especially whenformer President Felipe Calderon hosted the Dalai Lama in 2011, something China's Foreign Ministry said "hurt the feelings of the Chinese

people and harmed Chinese-Mexican relations." President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has been aggressive so far aboutchanging that, and the two new presidents reportedly hit if off on a personal level when Pena Nieto visited China and met with Xi in April. Thatresulted in an unusually quick diplomatic follow-up, just two months into Xi's presidency. During the April talks, Xi said "he is committed toworking with Mexican authorities to help Mexico export more," Mexico's vice minister of foreign relations, Carlos de Icaza, told The Associated

Press. That's key for Mexico, because its trade deficit with China is exploding, far surpassing that of any other Latin American nation. WhileChina is looking to assure supplies of raw materials, Mexico is looking to diversify its tradeand investment, which have long been dominated by its superpower neighbor to the north.

"In the new global geopolitical and economic map, China is, and I think it has arrived tostay, the world's second economic power, " De Icaza said. Mexico "has to understand andstrengthen relations with a nation that has such great strategic value ." De Icaza said thecountries hope to sign at least a dozen agreements in the fields of trade, energy, tourism,science and technology during Xi's visit. Mexican exports to China came to a bit over $5.7billion in 2012, while its imports from that country stood at almost $57 billion, according tostatistics from Mexico's Economy Department. Cell phones, video games and parts forelectronics factories have been pouring into Mexico, which sends China minerals such ascopper and lead. Overall trade between China and Latin America has expanded quicklyover the past decade and the continent now imports more from China than it does from theEuropean Union, according to the U.N. economic agency for the region. Many countries

balance those imports by sending China raw materials : oil from Venezuela, copper from Chile, soybeans fromArgentina. But Mexico's exports go overwhelmingly to the huge U.S. market right on its border.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/2013/06/02/china-president-wants-to-open-floodgates-trade-with-mexico/







1NC Venezuela CP-Generic

CP TEXT: China should *insert plan*



A2: Relations

China-Venezuela Relations Continue to ImproveCorreo del Orinoco International 13( a Venezuelan government backed progressive newspaper launched in 2009)5/17/13 [―Venezuela-China Relations Grow Following VP’s Visit , Correo del Orinoco International, 7/1/13, Online,http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9380, Dom] Venezuela and the People s Republic of China took a further step forward in strengtheningtheir bilateral relations last Monday when Vice President Li Yuancho visited the Caribbean country

as part of his recent t our of South America. ― We have come to amplify our political similarities as well asour areas of cooperation, reciprocal benefit, and shared profits”, said VP Li upon arriving at thePresidential Palace of Miraflores in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Li was met by President Nicolas Maduro and his executive cabinet inorder to advance projects that will ―satisfy the essential needs of our people , wrote Venezuela’s second -in-command, Vice President Jorge

Arreaza via his Twitter account. Four new accords were inked between the governments of Caracasand Beijing during the visit involving hydrocarbon, petrochemical, telecommunication andmineral development in Venezuela. Importantly, the two allies agreed to a proposal for theconstruction of a new port in the central state of Carabobo near Venezuela s Pequivenchemical plant that forms part of the nation s publicly owned oil company Pdvsa. Acontract outlining the financing of the project by the Import and Export Bank of Chinawas signed by the two leaders in order to define the terms of the port s construction. “Ourindustry will have a new maritime port to provide services to the ammonium and urea[Pequiven] plant. As such, we will continue to project growth in our petrochemical[sector]”, the Venezuelan President said. Further agreements were penned that will tightenVenezuela-China collaboration in telecommunications and technology, including themanufacture of cellular phones and circuitry for computers. “This visit has been veryfruitful. We will never forget the loving support that China gave to our Comandante[Chavez]. We will be loyal to the work that has been done”, Maduro said after the dialogue.

Chinese-Venezuelan relations have been growing steadily since 1999, when then PresidentHugo Chavez began to implement a new foreign policy for the South American country thatsought to expand trade partners internationally and move away from dependency on theUnited States. This policy shift is slated to continue under the Maduro government , following

the former Foreign Minister of the Chavez administration’s victory in Venezuela’s April 14th elections. According to the recently

elected president, his country s relationship with China is “a strategic alliance for shareddevelopment which began at zero and n ow passes $10 billion in commercial trade” . Apart from

trade, Maduro also informed that intellectual exchanges form an essential part of the alliance.As such, a group of 50 Venezuelans will be sent to China to study economic initiatives inkey areas “to encourage development of [our] productive forces”. Members of the UnitedSocialist Party of Venezuela will also travel to the Asian nation to receive social andpolitical training from members of the Chinese Communist Party. The move is meant topromote dialogue and fortify the push for a new breed of socialism in the OPEC membernation following the example set by Maduro s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. “We areconvinced that Socialism of the 21st Century is the path to social, economic, educational,cultural, h uman and holistic prosperity in Venezuela”, Maduro declared .

China and Venezuela Look to Further Their RelationsEL UNIVERSAL 13 (a major Mexican newspaper) 6/5/13 , [Venezuela, China to bring their relations to "a higher level," ElUniversal, 7/1/13, Online, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/130605/venezuela-china-to-bring-their-relations-to-a-higher-level, Dom]

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Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao and Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum and MiningRafael Ramírez gathered in Beijing on Tuesday. During the meeting, the Chinese official regarded

energy cooperation as "essential" for bilateral economic relations . According to Chinese news agency

Xinhua, Li said the two nations "need to develop current agreements and bring China-Venezuela relations to a higher level." The two leaders were expected to discuss the finaldetails regarding a Chinese loan amounting to USD 4 billion to boost production inPetrosinovensa, a China-Venezuela joint venture operating in the Orinoco Oil Belt



A2: Trade

China-Venezuela Trade Expected to increase by 2015Chris Arsenault Writer for Aljazeera, Mar 12, 20 13 , [―Venezuela looks to China for Economic Boost , Aljazeera, Online, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201331271053389351.html, 7/1/13]As China’s economic and political footprint grows across Latin America and Africa, worrying some and enriching others, Alvaro Ruiz Sanchezhas his eyes on the prize. President of OrOctrading, a consulting firm, Sanchez - sport ing thick cufflinks with the red Chinese flag and a dark

blazer - has been teaching Venezuelan companies about doing business with the world’s second -largest economy. ―Usually, manufactured goods

from China are coming into Latin America and raw materials are going out, Sanchez told Al Jazeera . ―Venezuela has posted a positive trade balance with China, because of oil exports, but without those we would have amajor deficit. Trade between Venezuela, holder of the world s largest oil reserves, andChina grew to $18bn in 2011, a 24-fold increase from 2003, reported China Daily , a government-backed

newspaper . Venezuela exports more than 500,000 barrels of oil to the Asian giant daily, according togovernment figures, and plans to increase that to one million by 2015. The two countries hadsigned 300 bilateral agreements, including 80 major projects, according to a University of Miamistudy in 2010.

Venezuela prefers China as a market for the sale of raw materials — rejects U.S.Alvarado 5-13 . [Liza Torres, former diplomat in the Mission of Venezuela to the Organization of American States, "The U.S. Must Re-evaluate its Foreign Policy in Latin America" Diplomatic Courier www.diplomaticourier.com/news/regions/latin-america/ RR1457-the-us-must-re-evaluate-its-foreign-policy-in-latin-america] RR

At the hemispheric level, the U.S.’s proposal to remove barriers to trade through the Free Trade Area of theAmericas (FTAA) was subsequently rejected by Venezuela , Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil in the mid-2000s.Subsequently, ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas) was born as a counterpart to the FTAA, changing the dynamics in the hemisphere.The Alliance posed as a new model, with the purpose being international cooperation based on the idea of social and economic integration of

Latin America and the Caribbean countries. China appeared as an alternative market for the sale of raw materialsfrom Latin America, reducing dependence on U.S. markets. Failed attempts by the United States todesta bilize Chavez’s administration radicalized the Venezuelan government's position , which privileged sub-

regional energy agreements and broke contracts with American oil companies as the decade progressed. Venezuela became animportant counterweight to the United States , not only for its ability to provide an alternative to U.S. policies in the region,but also because oil revenues had enabled the country take Cuba’s place in financing an anti -imperialist crusade across the continent. Ironically,

oil prices rose as a result of increased demand caused by the Iraq war, further helping Venezuela inthis mission and weakening the U.S.’s influence in the Western Hemisphere as it was focused its efforts on dualwar fronts on the other side of the globe.

Trade between Venezuela and China on the rise, 900% trade level increase in 12yearsCorreo del Orinoco International, 6/17/ 11*“China-Venezuela Relations Keep Growing” a t http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6280 accessed July 2, 2013, AV]

Trade between China and Venezuela has increased by 50 times in the last decade, which hastransformed the Asian country into the second largest trade partner of Venezuela , a fact evidenced by theconsolidation of bilateral relations. During the inauguration of the Third Industrial Expo China-Venezuela 2011 in Caracas this Thursday,

Venezuela’s Planning and Finance Minister, Jorge Giordani, said that ties between the two countries have beenstrengthened on the basis of equality, cooperation and fraternity, which has made the expansion ofmultiple agreements in commercial and productive industries possible . As of 2011, trade levelsbetween China and Venezuela have reached $10 billion dollars, which represents an increase of 900% compared to the $200 million dollars in trade existent between the two nations in 1999. “This decade, relations between our p eoples,presidents and governments have not just been s trengthened, but have also expanded and diversied. At the beginning, our relationship was just based on energy and agriculture exchange. Currently, it covers the most productive sectors of our economies”, Giordani e xplained. A

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diverse range of agreements have been signed with China, such as in the health sector (to supply medical and healthcare equipment andmaterials) and in the construction sector (in which the Asian country will contribute to housing construction in the framework of the

Venezuelan public housing program “Grand Mission Housing Venezuela”). The Planning and Finances Minister alsoemphasized that the relationship with China goes beyond just a commercial link, and both countriesnow share strong political and cultural ties.



A2: Oil Trade

China actively funds Venezuela Oil DevelpmentsIwata 6Mari Iwata, writer for the Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2013, Venezuela Secures $4 Billion Funding From China , http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130606-703225.html, Kevin L.

Venezuela has secured $4 billion in funds from China to be used for oil field development, Oil MinisterRafael Ramirez said Thursday. The minister didn't give details of the new funding from China, which will add to at least$35 billion of credit Beijing has provided to Venezuela, mostly in return for future oil deliveries. TheSouth American country's state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said Wednesday that Venezuela was negotiating a $4billion credit line from Export-Import Bank of China. Mr. Ramirez was speaking in Tokyo following a trip to Beijing for talks with Exim BankPresident Li Ruogu and other officials. Venezuela has also secured a number of financing agreements with its partners, ranging from Russia's

Rosneft to U.S. oil major Chevron Corp., CVX -0.31%during the past few weeks as it looks for funding for its plans to rapidly boost oil

production . The new Chinese funds add to a separate $4 billion loan that PDVSA will receive from theChinese government to boost oil production at Petrolera Sinovensa, a joint venture in Venezuela'sbetween PDVSA and China National Petroleum Corp. in Venezuela's rich Orinoco heavy oil belt. "Weplan to increase output to four million barrels a day by 2014 and six million barrels a day by 2016.Only Asia can absorb these increases ," Mr. Ramirez told reporters. Venezuela currently produces about three million barrels a

day of crude oil. Mr. Ramirez met Japanese Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and was later due to meet officials of Inpex Corp.

1605.TO -1.81% and state-funded Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.

China willing to invest in Venezuelan oil projectsCerna 11 (Staff @ crc) ["China's growing presence in Latin America: Implications for US and Chinese presence in the region" China Research Center -- Vol 10 No 1 atwww.chinacenter.net/chinas-growing-presence-in-latin-america-implications-for-u-s-and-chinese-presence-in-the-region/ accessed July 2,2013, AV]In 2009, China became Brazil’s largest single export market, eclipsing the U.S. for the first time in history. Later, Brazil’ s then-president, LuizInacio Lula da Silva, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, signed an agreement that allowed the China Development Bank and Sinopec to loanBrazil’s state -controlled oil company, Petrobras, $10 billion in return for as many as 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil for ten years (Economist,2009). This is but one example of how China is seizing lending opportunities in Latin America when traditional lenders such as the Inter-

American Development Bank are being pushed to their limits. “Just one o f China’s loans, the $10 billion for Brazil’s national oil company, isalmost as much as the $11.2 billion in all approved financing by the Inter- American Bank in 2008,” according to The New York Times.¶ It was

not only in Brazil that China went after oil . In order to meet rising industrial needs and consumer demand, China has pursuedinvestments and agreements with a variety of Latin American oil producers . In 2007 Venezuela agreed toa $6 billion joint investment fund for infrastructure projects at home and for oil refineries in Chinaable to process Venezuelan heavy crude oil (Santiso, 2007). Venezuela planned to increase oil exports toChina by 300,000 barrels per day. Then in 2009, Venezuela announced a $16 billion investment deal with the

Chinese National Petroleum Corporation ( CNPC) for oil exploration in the Orinoco River to develop heavy crude oil resources

(Economist, 2009). Meanwhile, the CNPC has invested $300 million in technology to use Venezuela’sOrimulsion fuel in Chinese power plants . This exemplifies Venezuela’s desire to break away from theU.S. During a visit to China in 2004, President Chavez said shifting exports to China would help end dependency on sales to the United States(Johnson, 2005).

Venezuela prefers Chinese oil engagement – no strings attached.Romero and Barrionuevo 9. ( Brazil bureau chief and journalist)["Deals help China expand sway in Latin America" New York Times at www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/16chinaloan.html?_r=0 accessedJuly 2, 2013, AV]

China has also pushed into Latin American countries where the U nited States has negligible influence, likeVenezuela. ¶ In February , China’s vice president , Xi Jinping, traveled to Caracas to meet with President Hugo Chávez. The two men

announced that a Chinese-backed development fund based here would grow to $12 billion from $6billion, giving Venezuela access to hard currency while agreeing to increase oil shipments to China to one

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million barrels a day from a level of about 380,000 barrels. ¶ Mr. Chávez’s government contends the Chinese aid differs fromother multilateral loans because it comes without strings attached, like scrutiny of internal finances . But

the Chinese fund has generated criticism among his opponents, who view it as an affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty.

China engagement boosts Venezuelan oil production —empirics prove

Will Grant 9. (Mexico and Central America Correspondent) [ "China in huge Venezuela oil deal" BBC News at news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8260200.stm accessed July 2, 2013, AV]

Venezuela has announced a $16bn (£10bn) investment deal with China for oil exploration in the Orinocoriver. ¶ The move comes shortly after Venezuela signed a similar agreement with Russia, which is estimated to be $20bn (£12bn). ¶ President

Hugo Chavez said the deals would boost oil production in Venezuela by about 900,000 barrels per day. ¶

Investors in Venezuela's oil industry have complained for months that a lack of government investment in infrastructure has hurt production. ¶

Multi-polar world ¶ Speaking on state television, Mr Chavez said the deal with China was over three years and that theinvestment would go towards developing heavy crude oil resources in the Orinoco River belt .¶ For

President Chavez it is part of a wider effort to increase his base of bilateral partners in the oil industry.



A2: China Will Not Finance

China Biggest Foreign Financer for VenezuelaEllsworth 12

Brain Ellsworth and Marianna Parraga, Writers for Reuters, May 22, 2012, Venezuela expands China oil-for-loan deal to $8 billion, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-venezuela-china-idUSBRE84M01M20120523 , Kevin L. and mainly BDVenezuela's Congress voted on Tuesday to double the amount the government can borrow from China under a deal that lets the OPEC nation repay loans with oil,

potentially adding to the debt burden taken on under President Hugo Chavez. China has become the single biggest foreignsource of financing for Venezuela's socialist government , which is borrowing heavily to fund statespending on welfare and infrastructure projects ahead of an October 7 election. Tuesday's voteamended a 2008 agreement to let Venezuela borrow as much as $8 billion from the China Development Bank at any given time, twice the original $4 billion . Ruling party lawmakers say thefunds are needed for investment in areas such as manufacturing to sustain economicgrowth that reached 5.6 percent in the first quarter - its fastest rate in almost four years.Venezuela is forging a strategy that allows us to guarantee the development of ourmanufacturing industry so that it's a motor of the economy," said socialist party lawmakerChristian Zerpa . Chavez signed the measure into law soon after, meaning it will come into force on publication in the Official Gazette. Opposi tionleaders, however, say such deals threaten to leave the country overly indebted. "This has taken us back to the colonial era," said opposition lawmaker Americo DeGrazia. "As a result of this fund, we're putting our future into debt - not just our f uture but that of our children and grandchildren." Critics point out that state oilcompany PDVSA already has to send 430,000 barrels per day of crude oil and products to cover i ts debts with China, which have reached $32 billion. The financingincludes three $4 billion loans in addition to a separate $20 billion lending package agreed in 2010. Seeking to finance an explosion in state spending on socialprograms including home construction and cash stipends to poor mothers, Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA also sold $17 b illion in bonds in 2011 despite asurge in oil revenue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-venezuela-china-idUSBRE84M01M20120523






A2: U.S.-Venezuela Relations Good

Obamas’ Refusal to Recognize Maduro’s Presidency Worsens U.S. -Venezuela RelationsPress TV 9Press TV, May 9, 2013, “US committing grave mistake on Venezuela, Maduro says” , http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/05/12/303087/us-making-grave-mistake-on-venezuela/, accessed July 2, 2013, BD

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the United States has made a ‘grave mistake’ in refusing toacknowledge his victory in the recent presidential election. ¶ The statement came on Saturday after USPresident Barack Obama recently rejected to say whether Washington recognized Maduro as the newpresident of Venezuela . ¶ “I believe (the United States) is committing a grave mistake, one more in its policy towards Latin America,”Maduro stated.¶ “It is making a tremendous mistake because Venezuela plays a leadership role in Latin America and the world,” theVenezuelan president said. ¶ Maduro defeated opposition leader Henrique Capriles on April 14 by receiving 50.7 percent of the vote against

49.1 percent. However, Capriles has claimed vote irregularities. ¶ In addition, Maduro said Obama was “convinced” byhis advisors to refuse to recognize the election results. “They promised him that I would b e ousted in24 or 48 hours, or that there would be a violent crisis in the country.” ¶ Also, in reference to theelection and the deadly protests that followed, Maduro called Obama the “grand chief of devils” onMay 3 and said the US president had given “his blessing for the fascist right wing to attack Venezuela’sdemocracy.” ¶ Venezuela and the United States have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010 .

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General Solvency

China engagement increasing quickly in Latin America, including Mexico andVenezuelaXiaoyang 13Chen, “A New Chapter on China -Latin American Cooperation” *http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign -policy/a-new-chapter-on-china-latin-american-cooperation/] June 1 //RR

In the past few years, China-Latin America relations have registered much faster growth, withfrequent exchanges of high-level visit, higher positions of the other side in each other’s strategy, extended Chinesestrategic partnership with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico and adoption by multiple LatinAmerican countries of a China strategy or Asia Pacific strategy in which China is the focus of attention .

Furthermore, the Chinese and Latin American economies are high complementary. China is now thesecond largest trading partner of and a leading source of investment in Latin America. It is the largest

trading partner of Brazil and Chile. Even amidst European debt crisis and global economic downturn,trade between China and Latin America has grown fairly rapidly. In 2012, bilateral trade reached 261.2 billion US

dollars, an 8.1% increase year-on-year. China has signed free trade agreements with Chile, Peru and Costa Rica.

Bilateral economic exchanges are moving from trade-dominated to greater balance between trade and investment. Cooperation hasalso expanded into the fields of agriculture, science and technology, aerospace and humanities. Cooperation mechanism has been improved innovatively by ways of earmarked funds and forums. In global affairs, the two sides have madeuse of APEC meetings, BRICS summits, G20 summits and UN Conference on Sustainable Development to exchange views and coordinatepositions. It is particularly eye-catching that since the new Chinese leadership took office high-level exchanges with Latin America have beeneven more frequent. In April, Xi met Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Peruvian President Ollanta Humala Tasso at the Boao Forum forAsia. In May, President Jose Mujica of Uruguay had a successful visit to China. Built on a decade of rapid expansion of China-Latin Americarelati ons, President Xi’s visit will certainly create a new momentum for bilateral cooperation.

China becoming more involved in Latin AmericaMallén 13 http://www.ibtimes.com/latin-america-increases-relations-china-what-does-mean-us-1317981 (Patricia Rey, writer for the International Business Times, June 28, 2013, Latin America Increases Relations With China: What Does That MeanFor The US, http://www.ibtimes.com/latin-america-increases-relations-china-what-does-mean-us-1317981) Kevin L

As if to confirm the declining hegemony of the United States as the ruling global superpower, China is gaining influence in itshemispheric "backyard," Secretary of State John Kerry's unintentionally insulting designation for Latin America .China hashad its sights on Latin America for the past decade and is now positioning itself as a competitivetrade partner in the region. The populous, rapidly developing Asian nation covets oil, soybeans and gold, of which Latin Americahas plenty, and has been slowly but steadily increasing its presence and its trade with several countries there.The U.S., whose history of blockingoutside political influence in Latin America going back to the Monroe Doctrine, has been directing its attention elsewhere, as Michael Cerna of

the China Research Center observed . “[The U.S.'] attention of late has been focused on Iraq andAfghanistan, and Latin America fell lower and lower on America s list of priorities. Chinahas been all too willing to fill any void ,” Cerna said. Between 2000 and 2009, China increased itstwo-way trade with Latin America by 660 percent, from $13 billion at the beginning of the 21stcentury to more than $120 billion nine years later. Latin American exports to China reached$41.3 bi llion, almost 7 percent of the region's total exports. China’s share of the region’s tradewas less than 10 percent in 2000; by 2009, the number had jumped to 12 percent. As impressive as thatgrowth is, the numbers still pale in comparison to the U.S.' stats in its commercial relationship with Latin America. The U.S. still holds more than

half of the total trade, adding up to $560 billion in 2008. Notably, though, America’s trade participation in LatinAmerica has remained static, while China is closing the gap more and more each year -- havingalready surpassed the U.S. in some countries, including powerhouse Brazil.

http://www.ibtimes.com/reporters/patricia-rey-mallen

http://www.ibtimes.com/latin-america-increases-relations-china-what-does-mean-us-1317981















http://www.ibtimes.com/reporters/patricia-rey-mallen



China solves better than the US in Latin AmericaErikson and Chen 2007 (Daniel P. [Senior Associate for US policy @ Inter-American Dialogue] andJanice [joint-degree candidate at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Georgetown UniversityLaw Center]; China, Taiwan, and the Battle for Latin America; 31 Fletcher F. World Aff. 69; kdf)Meanwhile, China's galloping entrance into the Latin American market for energy resources and other

commodities has been accompanied by an accelerating pace of high-level visits by Chinese officials tothe region over the past few years . Though China's foreign policy strategy toward the developing world prioritizes South Asia andAfrica over Latin America, this last relationship has experienced explosive growth. In 2001, Chinese President Jiang Zemin's landmark visit to theregion sparked a wave of visits by senior officials and business leaders to d iscuss political, economic, and military concerns. Since then, thevolume of trade between China and the region has skyrocketed. President Hu Jintao traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Cuba in 2004 and

visited Mexico in 2005. The presidents of all those and other countries have paid reciprocal visits to China. ¶ China's economic

engagement with Latin America responds to the requirements of a booming Chinese economy thathas been growing at nearly 10 percent per year for the past quarter century . The economic figures are

impressive: in the past six years, Chinese imports from Latin America have grown more than six-fold, at a paceof some 60 percent a year , to an estimated $ 60 billion in 2006. China has become a major consumer of food, mineral, and otherprimary products from Latin America, benefiting principally the commodity-producing countries of South America--particularly Argentina,

Brazil, Peru, and Chile. Chinese investment in Latin America remains relatively small at some $ 6.5 billion

through 2004, but that amount represents half of China's foreign investment overseas. n9 China's Xinhua News agency reported that Chinesetrade with the Caribbean exceeded $ 2 billion in 2004, a 40 percent increase from the previous year. n10 China has promised to increase itsinvestments in Latin America to $ 100 billion by 2014, although government officials have since backed away from that pledge and severalproposed investments are already showing signs of falling short in Brazil, Argentina, and elsewhere. FIGURE 2. CHINA V. TAIWAN: TRADING

WITH LATIN AMERICA n11¶ [*75] For their part , Latin Americans are intrigued by the idea of China as a potentialpartner for trade and investment. As a rising superpower without a colonial or "imperialist" history inthe Western Hemisphere, China is in many ways more politically attractive than either the U nited Statesor the European Union, especially for politicians confronted with constituencies that are increasingly anti-American and skeptical of Western

intentions. n12 Nevertheless, most analysts recognize that Latin America's embrace of China --to the extent that this

has actually occurred-- is intimately linked to its perception of neglect and disinterest from the U nited States.Nervousness about China's rise runs deeper among the smaller economies such as those of Central America, which do not enjoy Brazil's orArgentina's abundance in export commodities and are inclined to view the competition posed by the endless supply of cheap Chinese labor as amenace to their nascent manufacturing sectors. ¶ But even as China seeks to reassure the United S tates that its interests in South America arepurely economic, Beijing has begun enlisting regional powers like Mexico to aid its effort to woo Central American diplomats. Pressure is also

being placed on Paraguay by Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, its partners in the South American Common Market (Mercosur), which places certainconstraints on member states' bilateral foreign policy prerogatives. Despite its avowals to Washington, China appears to be using [*76] itseconomic might as a means to achieve the patently political objective of stripping Taiwan of its democratic allies in the Western Hemisphere.

US under pressure to cut Latin America Investment, China is gaining regionalupper hand.

Funaro 13 (Kaitlin, Writer for the GlobalPost, 06/04/13, Xi flies to Mexico as China battles US for influence in Latin America, GlobalPost,http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130604/xi-flies-mexico-china-battles-us-influence-latin-ame, KL)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is making the most of his four-country tour of the Americasto position China as a competitor to the US and Taiwan's economic influence in the region. Xi arrives in Mexico Tuesday for a three-day visit in which he and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto are expected to discuss their economicties. The two nations are economic partners but also competitors, particularly when it comes to exports to the United States. Mexico and China

both enjoy strong exports to the American market but Mexico itself has been flooded with cheap Chinese goods that are displacing domesticgoods. "China is a complicated case" for Mexico, Aldo Muñoz Armenta, political science professor at th eAutonomous University of Mexico

State told USA Today. "It's not the healthiest (relationship) in diplomatic terms because the balance of trade has been so unequal. " When itcomes to economic influence, China may be gaining the upper hand in Latin America.China is increasing its funding to the region just as the US has been coming under pressureto cut aid and investment.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130604/xi-flies-mexico-china-battles-us-influence-latin-ame

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0604/Trade-is-a-hot-topic-as-Chinese-president-travels-to-Mexico


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/04/mexico-china-jinping/2388197/






http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130604/xi-flies-mexico-china-battles-us-influence-latin-ame



Case SpecificChina promotes improvements within Latin American and Caribbean medicalsector

Xinhuanet 8 (the official newspaper of the PR, 11/05/2008, Full text: China's Policy Paper on Latin America and the

Caribbean, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/05/content_10308117_4.htm ) Kevin L.

The Chinese Government will vigorously promote exchanges and cooperation in themedical and health care sector with Latin American and Caribbean countries, and shareexperience and carry out cooperation in such areas as disease control, response to publichealth emergencies, and control of HIV/AIDS and bird flu. The Chinese Government willcontinue to send medical contingents equipped with necessary medicines and medicalequipments to relevant countries to help improve local medical facilities and train localmedical professionals.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/05/content_10308117_4.htm






Mexico Joint Renewable Energy

Mexico and China cooperate on renewable energyBusiness Mexico Online 13Business Mexico Online, June 6, 2013, “Mexico and China sign Memorandum of Understanding to

cooperate on renewable energy; EU imposes anti- dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels”,http://business-mexico-online.com/mexico-and-china-sign-memorandum-of-understanding-to-cooperate-on-renewable-energy-eu-imposes-anti-dumping-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-panels/, accessed7/2/2013, BDThe Mexican Secretary of Energy and the Chinese head of the National Development and ReformCommission agreed to cooperate on renewable energy programs , just as the European Union slaps tariffs on China

for dumping solar panels. ¶ Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquín Coldwell and Xu Shaoshi, President ofthe Chinese National Development and Reform Commission signed a memorandum of understandingmaking cooperation on renewable and clean energy programs, such as solar energy and carbondioxide recovery, a priority between the two countries , according to a press release issued by the Secretariat of Entergy. ¶

The memorandum of understanding , signed during the state visit to Mexico of Chinese President Xi Jinping, calls for

working groups to meet in China in the second half of this year to determine areas in which China andMexico can cooperate on energy projects .¶ The announcement comes just as the European Union placed 11.8 percent anti-dumping tariffs on the importation of Chinese solar panels, accusing China of selling solar panels in the EU below cost, the EuropeanCommission announced this week. The alleged dumping in Europe threatens 25,000 jobs in the European solar industry, according to theCommission. ¶ The tariffs of 11.8 percent that go into effect today are a temporary measure designed to encourage China to negotiate with theCommission and will last two months. If no further agreement with China is reached, those tariffs will go up to an average of 47.6 percent inAugust. The move by the European Commission is widely seen a measure that could provoke retaliatory measures by China in European exportsto that country.

Mexico and China pledge to have a joint renewable energy partnershipSolarInternational 13Solar International (A PV platform), 6/7/2013, “Mexico And China Sign Renewable Energy Agreement”,http://www.solar-international.net/article/77557-Mexico-and-China-sign-renewable-energy-

agreement.php, accessed 7/2/2013, BDThe Secretary of Energy for Mexico, Pedro Joaquin Coldwell Bachelor and the Chairman of theNational Development and Reform Commission of China, Xu Shaoshi, have signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on Energy Cooperation , which had as witnessed by the President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto and thePresident of the Republic of China, Xi Jinping. ¶ The document states that "the National Energy Administration of China and the Ministry of

Energy of Mexico held at the Third Meeting of China Energy Working Group in the second half of 2013. Both sides agreed toestablish among others, the areas of renewable energies like solar and clean technologies such asclean coal, and CO2 capture and sequestration as priorities for cooperation. The parties also agree toexplore additional areas of cooperation in subsequent meetings of the Working Group. " ¶ Note that inthe memorandum, signed in the framework of the Chinese president's visit to Mexico, both partiestook strategic agreements to start the activities of the Working Group responsible for maintaining thisdocument’s outcomes. ¶ The commitments of this agreement last May were defined in the context of the working visit of the

Commissioner of the Department of Energy, held in Beijing China, who led the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreñaas part preparatory mission to President Xi Jinping's visit to Mexico, on 4, 5 and 6 June. ¶ During that visit in China, formal relations werenegotiated between the Energy Department and the National Development and Reform Commission, through the signing of this memorandumsupersedes a previous agreement in 2006.

http://business-mexico-online.com/mexico-and-china-sign-memorandum-of-understanding-to-cooperate-on-renewable-energy-eu-imposes-anti-dumping-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-panels/


http://www.solar-international.net/article/77557-Mexico-and-China-sign-renewable-energy-agreement.php








War on Drugs

US responsible for Mexico drug related violence — strategy failingTom Barry 5/2/ 13 *“Changing Perspectives on U.S. -Mexico Relations” NACLA online at https://nacla.org/news/2013/5/2/changing-perspectives-us-mexico-relations accessed July 5, 2013, Av]

Drug trafficking and related violence have largely shaped the binational relationship over the pastsix years. During his first term, President Obama corr ectly identified the “shared responsibility” of the UnitedStates for the horrific drug-related violence in Mexico. But the Obama administration abysmally failed in shouldering its

responsibility. By continuing the military-oriented aid of the Bush adminis tration’s Mérida Initiative, the Obama administrationcontributed to the increase of drug-related violence and human rights violations in Mexico . By

encouraging and largely directing the Calderón government’s military -directed drug war, the Obama administration — along with the

Calderón government and Mexico’s security forces— turned large parts of Mexico into killing grounds whereassault weapons, not the rule of law, are the only instruments of governance and control. Despite theObama administration’s asses sment that Mexican drug trafficking organizations constitute a security threat not only to Mexico but also to the

United States and to the nations of Central America, President Obama has failed to take sufficient measures to stop theflow of military-grade weaponry to organized criminal organizations and bandits in the region. Thefailure to stand up for gun control until the Newtown massacre is emblematic of President Obama’s lead -from-behind posture in many

controversial domestic issues, including immigration. In truly addressing the shared responsibility of the United States for violencein Mexico — which has led to the killing or disappearance of nearly 100,000 Mexicans (overwhelminglycivilians) since 2006 — President Obama needs to take the lead in finally ending the drug prohibition era and the related U.S.-supported drug wars.Similarly, President Peña Nieto must, as part of his declared commitment to ―crime prevention and ending the military -led drug war, call fordrug legalization in the United States, joining other Latin American leaders as well as Javier Sicilia and the Movement for Justice with Peace andDignity. Although not yet calling for the end to the drug-prohibition induced drug wars, Peña Nieto has rightly ended the wholesale drug-interdiction campaigns and drug-kingpin targeting initiated by Calderón and the U.S. government and instead committed his administration to aviolence-reduction and law-enforcement strategy. While the shape of the strategy remains unclear, dramatically reducing the pervasive and

proactive military presence throughout much of Mexico has been an appropriate first step. The Mexican president has narrowed the window ofU.S. involvement in intelligence, counternarcotics operations, and Mexican military affairs — a clear rebuff to the U.S. government. The Obamaadministration may be justifiably concerned about the ability of the new government to diminish the power and reach of criminal organizations

built largely on drug-trafficking, yet President Obama should, in a gesture of solidarity and shared responsibility, acknowledge the systemic flawsin U.S. counternarcotics and anti-organized crime strategies. Pervasive patterns of human rights violations, impunity, and police and judicialcorruption/reform should be top among U.S. concerns at the presidential meeting. At the same time, however, President Obama should

acknowledge that the United States four -decade strategy of attempting to reduce the flow of illicit drugshas not only failed, but also led to a raft of adverse consequences.

https://nacla.org/news/2013/5/2/changing-perspectives-us-mexico-relations







Narcotrafficking

Chinese engagement solves narcotraffickingEllis 2012 (R. Evan [associate professor with the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies]; The United States, LatinAmerica and China: A Triangular Relationship; May; www.thedialogue.org/PublicationFiles/IAD8661_China_Triangular0424v2e-may.pdf; kl)

On the positive side, China’s donation of goods to countries ¶ and its sale of goods at relatively low priceshave contributed ¶ to the ability of governments in the region to assert ¶ control over national territoryand meet such challenges as narcotrafficking . The use of Chinese K-8 aircraft, purchased ¶ by Bolivia from the PRC, is oneexample. The donation of ¶ trucks and buses to the Bolivian armed forces and non-lethal ¶ gear to the Jamaica Defense Force are other suchexamples.15



Sugar Ethanol

China’s role in foreign sugar ethanol programs successful— Brazil provesEric Ehrmann 5/27/ 09 Huffingtonpost writer and member of PEN *“How Sweet It Is... Brazil's Sugar Ethanol Fuels China's Recovery” Huffington Post Online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-ehrmann/how-sweet-it-is-brazils-s_b_207825.html accessed July 5, 2013, AV]

China has made a $10 billion investment in energy giant Petrobras strengthening Brazil's effortstoward sustainability and putting sugar based ethanol in the center of the geopolitical arena. Using its owntechnology and just 1% of its arable land, Brazil efficiently produced 6.57 billion gallons of sugar ethanol last statistical year, roughly half the

reported annual oil production of Iraq. Ironically, China's investment in Petrobras would buy about seven weeksworth of the US presence that protects the oil business in Iraq . Brazil could double ethanol production with the rightmarket conditions and if a couple former presidents, now powerful senators, push the government to expand production in Brazil's low incomenorthern states. Ethanol trade has helped make China Brazil's top trade partner, replacing Uncle Sam ,

who had been top dog ever since Herbert Hoover was in the White House. Unlike the US, Brazil runs a favorable tradebalance with China and will continue to do so as China rebounds from the crisis . Opportunities forexpanding US-Brazil trade, meanwhile, are limited by the 54 cents per gallon predatory tariff Washington slaps on sugar based ethanol which

president Barack Obama voted for as a senator to gain support from agribusiness and Corn Belt farmers in his quest for the White House.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-ehrmann/how-sweet-it-is-brazils-s_b_207825.html







***Aff



Perms

Perm: the US and China should make a cooperative effort to economically engageChina

U.S. should welcome Chinese engagement in Latin AmericaJon Brandt 12 (Derek Hottle, Nicole Adams, Nav Aujla, Christina Dinh, Kirsten Kaufman, Devin Kleinfield-Hayes Wanlin Ren, Andrew Tuck, American University school of international service) [―Chinese Engagement inLatin America and the Caribbean:Implications for US F oreign Policy, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, Online,http://www.american.edu/sis/usfp/upload/Chinese-Engagement-in-LAC-AU_US-Congress-FINAL.pdf, accessed7/6/13]China s ties with Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to deepen in the future. TheUS should welcome China s involvement in the region by encouraging it to be a responsibleand productive partner. While Chinese and US interests will diverge in some sectors, this isnot a cause for alarm. The US has broad economic, security, cultural, and historical tieswith the countries of the region and it must continue to nurture these connections in orderto maintain its influence. Engaging China multilaterally in the region can benefit not onlyLatin America, the Caribbean, and China, but also the United States.

US-China economic relationship key to global successChen Jia 6/19/ 2013 (Chief Correspondent of China Daily)*“US-China relations a must win” Chin a Daily Online at http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-06/19/content_16636672.htm accessed July6, 2013, AV]

American think tanks believe that China and the US will have tremendous opportunities for cooperation in thenext 10 years , and the top three items on their work agenda should be energy, tourism, and science and technology. "The stakes are large,for both success and failure," said Stanford economist Michael Boskin, "so the relationship needs to succeed." Making his remarks at a paneldiscussion of a new study - "US-China 2022: Economic Relations in the Next 10 Years" - held by the China-US Exchange Foundation and the

Committee of 100 in Los Angeles on Monday, Boskin added that the US and China's bilateral economic relationship hasprogressed from "virtual nonexistence to the world's most important in one generation. We have alarge national interest in each other's economic success". Dominic Ng, chairman of the Committee of 100, told China

Daily at Monday's panel that the "groundbreaking study explores the dynamic evolution of US-China economic relationsover the last three decades and identifies key opportunities for future bilateral cooperation", somethingthat will benefit not just China and the US, but the whole world. He said that frequent high-level officialcommunications had a positive influence on the economic and cultural give-and-take between Chinaand the US . He mentioned Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day "shirt-sleeve" summit with US President Obama in California last week asa "golden opportunity to build a better personal rapport and mutual trust". The study said that China was growing at almost 1 0 percent 30years ago, but its impact on the global economy was small. After 20 years of this scale of growth, China has developed a $7.5 trillion dollareconomy. The growth of China and the developing world will lead to a doubling of the global economy in 10 to 15 years and probably a tripling

in another 15 years, it said. In 2010, exports of goods and services between the US and China created 730,000 jobs in the US and 11.4 million jobs in China, the study found.

Perm: Do both

US and China not competing--can cooperate

Global Times 05/31 (A Newspaper of China, 05/31/13, China, US not competing over Latin America: expert, GlobalTimes, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/785721.shtml#.UdisXPnDxfs, KL)

http://www.american.edu/sis/usfp/upload/Chinese-Engagement-in-LAC-AU_US-Congress-FINAL.pdf

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-06/19/content_16636672.htm

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/785721.shtml#.UdisXPnDxfs



http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-06/19/content_16636672.htm

http://www.american.edu/sis/usfp/upload/Chinese-Engagement-in-LAC-AU_US-Congress-FINAL.pdf



Both the US and China deny they are competing with each other. Chinese foreignministry spokesperson Hong Lei said last week that the two countries can "carry outcooperation in Latin America by giving play to their respective advantages." TaoWenzhao, a fellow of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of SocialSciences, told the Global Times that it is a coincidence that the two leaders chose to visit Latin America at a similar

time, and that China has no intention to challenge US influence in the area."It's not like inthe 19th century when countries divided their sphere of influence in a certain area.China and the US' involvement in Latin America is not a zero-sum game," Tao said, explainingthat it is a good thing for Latin America. Chinese and US leaders visit Latin America out of their respective strategic needs, Tao

said . All countries need to interact and cooperate with other countries, and visits of suchhigh-level are usually arranged long time before they starts, Tao said.



Cuba

Cuba-US Relations improvingHaven 13

Paul Haven (writer for Vancouver Sun), 6/22/2013, The Associated Press, “Relations thaw betweenCuba, U.S.”, www.vancouversun.com/news/Relations+thaw+between+Cuba/8564785/story.html, accessed 7/6/2013, BDThey've hardly become allies, but Cuba and the U.S. have taken some baby steps toward rapprochement inrecent weeks that have people on this island and in Washington wondering if a breakthrough inrelations could be just over the horizon .¶ Skeptics caution that the Cold War enemies have been here many times before, only

to fall back into old recriminations. But there are signs that views might be shifting on both sides of the FloridaStraits. ¶ In the past week, the two countries have held talks on resuming direct mail service, andannounced a July 17 sit-down on migration issues. In May, a U.S. federal judge allowed a convictedCuban intelligence agent to return to the island . This month, Cuba informed the family of jailed U.S. governmentsubcontractor Alan Gross that it would let an American doctor examine him. Castro has also ushered in a series of economic and social changes,

including making it easier for Cubans to travel off the island. ¶ Under the radar, diplomats on both sides describe a sea change

in the tone .¶ Only last year, Cuban state television was broadcasting grainy footage of American diplomats meeting with dissidents onHavana streets and publicly accusing them of being CIA frontmen. Today, U.S. diplomats in Havana and Cuban ForeignMinistry officials have easy contact, even sharing home phone numbers .¶ Josefina Vidal, Cuba's top diplomat for

North American affairs, recently travelled to Washington and met twice with State Department officials - a visit that came right before the

announcements of resumptions in the two sets of bilateral talks that had been suspended for more than two years. ¶ "These recentsteps indicate a desire on both sides to try to move forward, but also a recognition on both sides of just how difficult it is to make real progress," said Robert Pastor, a professor of international relationsat American University. "These are tiny, incremental gains, and the prospects of going backwards areequally high ."¶ Among the things that have changed, John Kerry has taken over as U.S. secretary of state after being an outspoken critic ofWashington's policy on Cuba while in the Senate. U.S. President Barack Obama no longer has re-election concerns while dealing with the

Cuban-American electorate in Florida, where there are also indications of a warming attitude to negotiating with Cuba. ¶ Cuban PresidentRaul Castro, meanwhile, is striving to overhaul the island's Marxist economy with a dose of limitedfree-market capitalism and may feel a need for more open relations with the U.S. While directAmerican investment is still barred on the island, a rise in visits and money transfers by Cuban-Americans since Obama relaxed restrictions has been a boon for Cuba's cash-starved economy .¶ Severalprominent Cuban dissidents have been allowed to travel recently due to Castro's changes. The trips have been applauded by Washington. ¶ Likewise, a U.S. federal judge's decision to allow Cuban spy Rene Gonzalez to return home was met with only muted criticism inside the UnitedStates, perhaps emboldening U.S. diplomats to seek further openings with Cuba. ¶ There is still far more that separates the longtime antagoniststhan unites them. ¶ The State Department has kept Cuba on a list of state sponsors of terrorism and another that calls into question Havana'scommitment to fighting human trafficking. The Obama administration continues to demand democratic change on an island ruled for morethan a half century by Castro and his brother Fidel. ¶ Ted Henken, a professor of Latin American studies at Baruch College in New York whohelped organize a recent U.S. tour by Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, said the Obama administration is too concerned with upsettingCuban-American politicians and has missed opportunities to engage with Cuba at a crucial time in its history. ¶ "I think that a lot more wouldhave to happen for this to amount to momentum leading to any kind of major diplomatic breakthrough," he said. "Obama should be bolder andmore audacious." ¶ Even these limited moves have sparked fierce criticism by those long opposed to engagement. Cuban-Americancongressman Mario Diaz Balart, a Florida Republican, called the recent overtures "disturbing." ¶ "Rather than attempting to legitimize the Cuban

people's oppressors, the administration should demand that the regime stop harbouring fugitives from U.S. justice, release all politicalprisoners and American humanitarian aid worker Alan Gross, end the brutal, escalating repression against the Cuban people and respect basic

human rights," he said .¶ Despite that rhetoric, many experts think Obama would face less political fallout athome if he chose engagement because younger Cuban-Americans seem more open to improved tiesthan those who fled after the 1959 revolution.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Relations+thaw+between+Cuba/8564785/story.html





Obama wants to move U.S./Cuba relationship in a positive directionStolberg and Barrionuevo 9 (Sheryl Gay and Alexei, writers for NY times) [“Obama Says U.S. Will Pursue Thaw WithCuba,” NY times, Online, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/americas/18prexy.html?_r=0, accessed 7/6/13]

Mr. Obama s remarks, during the opening ceremony at the Summit of the Americas, are the clearestsignal in decades that the U nited S tates is willing to change direction in its dealings with Cuba .

They capped a dizzying series of developments this week, including surprisingly warm wordsbetween Raul Castro , Cuba’s leader, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton . Other leaders here said that in

watching Mr. Obama extend his hand to Cuba, they felt they were witnessing a historic shift.And in another twist, Cuba s strongest ally at the summit, President Hugo Chávez ofVenezuela, no fan of the United States, was photographed at the meeting giving Mr.Obama a hearty handclasp and a broad smile. Cuba is not on the official agenda here; indeed, Cuba, which has been

barred from the Organization of American States since 1962, is not even on the guest list. But leaders in the hemisphere have spent months planning to make Cuba an issue here. The White House was well aware that if Mr. Obama did not address it head on, the issue would overwhelm

the rest of the summit gathering. This week, the president opened the door to the discussions by abandon ing longstandingrestrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to travel freely to the island and send moneyto relatives there. “I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcomingdecades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day,” Mr.

Obama s aid, adding that he was “prepared to have my administration engage with theCuban government on a wide range of issues — from human rights, free speech, anddemocratic reform to drugs, migration, and economic issues . Mr. Obama’s message was not entirely n ew;he has said in the past that he was willing to engage with Cuba . But making a public pledge before leaders of33 other nations, many of whom he had not yet met, gave his words added heft. He came here with the aim of reaching out to leaders in a regionthat felt ignored by the United States during the Bush years. Just as he campaigned on the theme of change when running for the White House, he

made change a theme of his speech here, saying: “I didn t come here to debate the past. I came here to dealwith the future.” He said the United States needed to acknowledge long-held suspicions that it has interfered in the affairs of othercountries. But, departing from his prepared text, he also said the region’s countries needed to cease their own historic demo nization of the UnitedStates for everything from economic crises t o drug violence. ―That also means we can’t blame the United States for every problem that arises inthe hemisphere, he said. ―That’s part of the bargain. That’s the old way, and we need a new way. On Cuba, the president’s w ords were asnotable for what he said as for what he did not say. He did not scold or berate the Cuban government for holding political prisoners, as his

predecessor, George W. Bush, often did. But he also did not say that he was willing to support Cuba’s membership in the Organ ization ofAmerican States, or lift the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, as some hemisphere leaders here want him to do. And his press secretary,

Robert Gibbs, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way here, pointed out that Cuba needed to take concrete action to ―bring greaterfreedom to the Cuban people. In his speech, Mr. Obama gave a nod toward these issues, although not explicitly. ―Let me be clear, he said. “Iam not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.”

U.S.-Cuban relations are showing signs of improvement one step at a timeSmith 11 Wayne (senior fellow and director of the Cuba Project, visiting professor of Latin American Studies and director of the University of Havanaexchange program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, a former senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)January 24 [―At last, U.S. -Cuban Relations Begin to Improve, Rethinking National Security, online a thttp://cipnationalsecurity.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/at-last-u-s-cuban-relations-begin-to-improve/, July 7,2013, Hostert]

The year 2010 had registered virtually no improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations. There had been rumorsand suggestions for some time that the Obama administration might ease restrictions on, at least, academic and so- called ―people-to- peopletravel to Cuba. Delays were first attributed to the need to wait until after the November elections – and then, given the disappointing outcome of

the elections, there was concern that the administration might not act at all and that 2011 would be as disappointing as 2010. But then, on the

afternoon of January 14, 2011 , came the surprise announcement from the White House thatrestrictions on certain kinds of travel would indeed be eased, that flights to Cuba could go outof additional airfields, not just out of Miami, and that Americans could now send limitedremittances to Cuban citizens , provided the latter were not senior members of the Cuban government or Communist Party. It

was perhaps not everything theyhad hoped for, but the January 14 announcement was welcomed by most Cubans,and by Americans who want to see an improvement in relations with Cuba. How had it come about?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/americas/18prexy.html?_r=0


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http://cipnationalsecurity.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/at-last-u-s-cuban-relations-begin-to-improve/




Probably as the result of movement on both sides. The U.S. had been taking the position that it could not take further steps to improve relationsuntil the case of Alan Gross was resolved – Alan Gross, the USAID contractor arrested in December of 2009. The U.S. insisted that he hadcommitted no crime. The Cubans, on the other hand, noted that he had entered Cuba improperly with a tourist visa and had been distributinghighly sophisticated radio equipment without a license. And, Cuban officials had been privately hinting that there would have to be some steptoward improvement on the U.S. side before the Gross case could be resolved. That step seems to have finally come with the January 14 WhiteHouse announcement described above. Will that now led to a resolution of the Gross case? Perhaps it already has; indeed, that the one took place

before the other and we note that the White House announcement came only days after a meeting of U.S. and Cuban delegations in Havana atwhich, reportedly, the Cubans were ―responsive on the Gross case. We will see what that means, but expectations are that Gro ss will shortly be

released. And if he is, the way may then be clear for significant improvements in U.S.-Cubanrelations.



Mexico

Mexico-China Relations declining as Costa Rica gains more Chinese attentionPowell 13Helena Powell (writer for Pulsa Merica), 2/3/2013, Pulsa Merica, “CHINA/LATIN AMERICA: MEXICAN RELATIONS WITH CHINAAT LOWEST EBBIN RECENT YEARS ACCORDING TO EXPERTS”, http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/2013/02/03/chinalatin-america-mexican-relations-with-china-at-lowest-ebb-in-recent-years-according-to-experts/, accessed 7/5/2013, BD

¶ Mexican relations with China at lowest ebb in recent years according to experts ¶ Mexico is‘completely clueless when it comes to China… There’s no strategy that adequately reflects China’sglobal importance and does justice to our second leading trade partner. I don’t think economic andtrade relations can get any worse .’ This damning assessment of Sino -Mexican relations came from Enrique Dussel, director of theCenter for China-Mexico Studies of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.¶ Mr Dussel is not alone in his view; indeed he is one of agroup of 100 academics, businessmen and politicians who have devised a Strategic Agenda for Mexico-China Relations, which was presented toPresident Peña Nieto shortly after he took office. The proposed agenda covers the economy, culture, environment and education, andhighlights the absence of a coherent short and long term plan for China. It also stresses the need to prioritise forming a strategy, in conjunctionwith Beijing, otherwise trade and economic ties will suffer.¶ This issue has been brought into sharp focus in recent weeks over the Dragon Mart

controversy, (see last week’s article). Plans to build Chinese-financed retail complex near Cancun have receivedwidespread criticism in Mexico from environmental groups and public figures who questioned thetransparency of China’s trade practices. It is the latest incident in a somewhat chequered history; last year Mexico fileda complaint against China in the WTO over malpractice in the textile industry, and in 2011 Mexico failedin its bid for the I nternational M onetary F und ’s head position when China refused to back candidateAgustin Carstens. ¶ Such tensions will not help Mexico in resolving issues within the bilateral economicrelationship. Mexico has a starkly negative trade deficit with China , importing $52bn worth of Chinese goods in 2011while exporting just $2bn worth in return. Furthermor e China’s FDI in Mexico is surprisingly low; the two countries disagree widely about theexact figure (Mexico estimates the 2011 figure to be $157m while China puts it at $614m), however put into perspective both f igures arenoticeably paltry compared to the US 2011 contribution of $8bn.¶ As yet the Mexican government has made scant effort to redress the tradeimbalance or attract further investment. However the Strategic Agenda seeks to change this, recommending a $50m credit programme to

promote Mexican exports to China and a $40m a year Chinese Investment Attraction Fund to bring in capital from Beijing.¶ Costa Ricahopes to become a platform for Chinese exports and investment in Latin America ¶ At the World Economic

Forum’s Annual Meeting last week, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla spoke warmly of the bilateral economic

relationship to date since the bilateral f ree t rade a greement was signed in 2010 and voiced her ambition toincrease trade with and investment from China. ‘There are many opportunities for Chinese investmentin Costa Rica’s energy, telecommunication and infrastructure sectors . And we are in talks with some companies for

potential offers of investment … We can offer China the door to the Latin American region to export its goodand serv ices. ’ ¶ Chinchilla also emphasised Costa Rica’s balanced economic growth in recent years and theimportance placed on sustainable development, which makes the country an ideal candidate forforeign investment. However the government has also backed up its words with actions in order toachieve its goals ; in 2012 the construction of a manufacturing industrial zone began, which will act as a centre to produce, assemble andprocess Chinese exports for Costa Rica and the entire Latin American region.

U.S.-Mexican relations are high now, showing a good opportunity to work togetherSlack 13 Megan (Deputy Director of Digital Content for the Office of Digital Strategy at Whitehouse.gov) May 3 [―President Obama Reaff irms the UnitedStates- Mexico Relationship, Whitehouse.gov, online a t http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/05/03/president-obama-reaffirms-united-states-mexico-relationship, July 6, 2013, Hostert]

On the first day of his trip to Mexico and Costa Rica, President Obama was in Mexico City for meetings and a joint press conference with

President Peña Nieto . The two leaders, who first met in Washington , DC last November, discussed the broadrange of issues that bind our nations and affect the daily lives of citizens in both countries,and renewed their commitment to a strong relationship between the United States andMexico. While working together to confront urgent challenges like security, “we can t lose sight of the larger

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relationship between our peoples, including the pr omise of Mexico s economic progress,”President Obama said. ―I believewe ve got a historic opportunity to foster even morecooperation, more trade, more jobs on both sides of the border , and that’s the focus of my visit. The

United States and Mexico have one of the largest economic relationships in the world. Our annualtrade has now surpassed $500 billion more than $1 billion every day. We are your largest

customer, buying the vast majority of Mexican exports. Mexico is the second largestmarket for U.S. exports. So every day, our companies and our workers — with their integrated supply

chains — are building products together. And this is the strong foundation that we can build on.

US and Mexico working actively to strengthen economic relationshipJosé Antonio Meade 6/25/ 2013 (Foreign Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) ["Statement to the press on the Mexico – United States Relationship by Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade," Mexidata online athttp://www.mexidata.info/id3651.html accessed July 6, 2013, AV]President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration firmly believes that North America has all the elements to be an even more dyna mic and

competitive region. The President has said this himself on multiple occasions. Mexico is working actively with the UnitedStates Government, Congress and civil society on a broad multi-faceted agenda that benefits

both countries. During President Obama’s recent trip to Mexico , a High Level Economic Dialogue was announced to identify and address specific priorities that would strengthen oureconomic relationship. A Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research was also announced to develop a shared

vision and make short- and medium-term recommendations on how to enhance educational exchanges between both countries. We

also agreed to work in a comprehensive and coordinated manner with the ObamaAdministration on our common border to make it a more prosperous, secure, sustainablearea that is favorable to development. We remain committed to taking steps to facilitate the safe transit of goods andpeople and to supporting regional development. Together, both governments will enforce the law in an increasingly effective fashion. Since thestart of the legislative process on immigration was announced, the Mexican Government has engaged in an ongoing, purposeful dialogue withall of the actors involved. The Government of Mexico is convinced that this reform can benefit the several million Mexican immigrants who withtheir hard work contribute to the development of the United States on a daily basis, as President Obama said on his recent visit to our country.

Mexico ’s embassy and consulates in the United States have always been ready to protect and defend the human and workers’ rights of our

fellow countrymen. Information on the current immigration situation has been provided and our diplomatic offices have been strengthened.We have emphasized the importance of the human dimension of immigration. At this point in the legislative process, our country hasinformed the United States Government that measures which could affect the ties betweenour communities distance us from the principles of shared responsibility and goodneighborliness that both nations have decided to encourage.

US-Mexico relations strong – joint effort on environmental protection and renovationprovesEPA (Environmental Protection Agency) 2012 US-Mexico Border 2012: Environmental Issues, EPAOnline at http://www.epa.gov/border2012/issues.html, accessed July 5, 2013, //RR

Water quality, air quality, and natural resources suffer a disproportionate amount of environmentaldegradation compared to each nation’s overall environment in the border region. The 14 metropolitanareas along the border have abysmal air and water quality. Rapid population growth in these urbanareas has lead to increased demand for land and poorly planned developmen t; greater demand forenergy, amplified traffic congestion and waste generation, overburdened or unavailable wastetreatment and disposal facilities, and frequent chemical emergencies. Rural communities along theborder are also confronted with a host of environmental problems. These problems include: illegaldumping, agricultural drainage, airborne dust and pesticides exposure, inadequate water supplies,

http://www.mexidata.info/id3651.html

http://www.mexidata.info/id3651.html



insufficient or nonexistent waste facilities and degradation of natural resources and ecosystems. As aresult of regional environmental degradation, many border residents suffer from environmental healthproblems , including waterborne and respiratory diseases. These health problems can be related to airpollution, inadequate water and sewage treatment, or improper management of pesticides, andhazardous and solid wastes. The elderly and children are especially at risk. Rural communities aresometimes at a greater risk, as they are more likely to have inadequate water supply and treatmentsystems.¶ Recognizing these environmental and public health problems, the United States and Mexicohave agreed to act jointly to address them, consistent with principles of environmental protection,resource conservation and sustainable development. Water is the most limited resource in thisprimarily arid region. Surface and groundwater resources are threatened by contamination, includingagricultural runoff, industrial discharge, and untreated sewage. Increasing demand for water has led tothe rapid depletion of aquifers. Inadequate water supply and inefficient use of water could limit futureregional development.¶ When the Border XXI Program began in 1996, 88 percent of border householdsin Mexico had potable water service; 69 percent were connected to sewers; and 34 percent were onsewer systems that were connected to wastewater treatment facilities. Those numbers improved by theend of 2000 to 93, 75 and 75 percent, respectively. In addition, Border XXI supported efforts to monitorsurface and sub-surface water quality in a number of key basin s. A list of specific projects can be found

on the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and North American Development Bank(NADB) Web sites. Pollutants from a number of sources including motor vehicles, power plants andindustrial facilities, agricultural operations, mining, dust from unpaved roads, and open burning of trashhave affected urban and regional air quality along the U.S.-Mexico border. The most common anddamaging pollutants from these sources include sulfur dioxide, suspended particulate matter (PM-10and PM-2.5), nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone, and carbon monoxide.¶ Although substantial gainshave been made , air quality is still a major concern throughout the border region. The pressuresassociated with industrial and population growth, the increase in the number of old vehicles, differencesin governance and regulatory frameworks, and topographic and meteorologic conditions present achallenging context in which to address air quality management. These same factors also present manyopportunities for binational cooperation. As the number of people and industrial facilities grow in the

border area so does the quantity of hazardous and solid waste generated. And as the amount ofhazardous waste generated so does the risk of contaminated sites. Another important issue is scrap tirepiles in the border area because these piles result in mosquito-borne diseases and the possibility of firewhich causes severe, acute air contamination. Progress has been made in cleaning up scrap tire piles,remediating contaminated sites and constructing permitted solid waste landfills. One priority area isto establish mechanisms for cleaning up tire piles and preventing more tire piles from being created.Another priority issue is to increase the capacity of permitted hazardous waste facilities so that thecapacity of permitted facilities is commensurate with the amount of hazardous waste being generated.¶For details, please visit the Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum Web site. Border environmental healthefforts focus on reducing the risk to border families, especially children, that may result fromexposure to air pollution, drinking water contaminants, pesticides and other toxic chemicals .¶Environmental health efforts under Border 2012 improve capacity to conduct surveillance, monitoring,and research on the relationship between human health and environmental exposures; deliverenvironmental health intervention , prevention and educational services; and enhance publicawareness and understanding of environmental exposure conditions and health problems . Programactivities focus on strengthening data gathering (including the development/application of indicators toassess changes in specific human exposure and health conditions), training and education to buildinfrastructure; and provision of critical information to decisionmakers to achieve improvedenvironmental health in the border region. Rapid economic and population growth along the U.S.-Mexico border has also increased the potential for hazardous waste releases and emergencies. In



Venezuela

U.S. and Venezuela look to further positive relationsWroughton 13

Lesley Wroughton (writer for Reuters), 5/5/2013, “U.S., Venezuela to find ways to forge positiverelations: Kerry”, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/05/us-usa-venezuela-idUSBRE9541EG20130605, accessed 5/5/2013, BD(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday he and Venezuelan Foreign Minister EliasJaua had agreed to find new ways to forge positive relations between their two countries, long at politicalloggerheads .¶ Kerry welcomed as a "positive development" Venezuela's decision to release from prison an American filmmaker arrested in April on accusations ofspying for Washington. ¶ Washington has angered Venezuela's government by holding back recognition of new President Nicolas Maduro, the chosen s uccessor of

late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ¶ "We agreed today, both of us, that we would like to see our countries find anew way forward, establish a more constructive and positive relationship," Kerry said after a meetingwith Jaua on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of American States in Antigua,Guatemala. ¶ "To that end, we agreed today there will be an ongoing, continuing dialogue between theState Department and the Foreign Ministry, and we will try to set out an agenda by which we agree

on things we can work together."¶

Kerry said he hoped the two countries could move quickly toappoint mutual ambassadors, which they have been without since 2010 .¶ The fate of filmmaker Timothy Hallet Tracyhad been seen as a litmus test of Maduro's intentions to ward Washington following years of hostility from Chavez, who died of cancer in March. Venezuelaannounced on Wednesday it had deported Tracy. ¶ During a trip to Latin America in early May, President Barack Obama called the accusations that Tracy was a spy"ridiculous," infuriating Venezuela's government and reviving accusations of "imperialist meddling" that became routine during Chavez's polarizing 14-year rule. ¶ Former bus driver Maduro, who was elected president on April 14, even described Obama as "the grand chief of devils" and issued a formal protest note. ¶ A U.S.official said this week that concerns remained about how deep post-election divisions in Venezuela would be resolved. The oppos ition in Venezuela has contestedthe close election and says Maduro's victory was fraudulent.

U.S and Venezuelan governments focused on improving bilateral relationsCarl Meachan 6/21 (director of CSIS Americas Programs, senior adviser for Latin America and theCaribbean on the committee, the most senior Republican Senate staff position for this region, workedon the staff of two Democratic senators), 6/21/2013, “The Kerry -Jaua Meeting: Resetting U.S.-Venezuela

Relations?” http://csis.org/publication/kerry-jaua-meeting-resetting-us-venezuela-relations, accessed7/5/2013, BDOn June 5, Secretary of State John Kerry raised eyebrows when he met with his Venezuelancounterpart, Foreign Minister Elías Jaua . Both were in Guatemala to attend the recent General Ass embly of the Organization of American

States (OAS). The pair’s meeting was the first high -level public meeting between the two countries sinceU.S. president Barack Obama and former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez shook hands and had abrief exchange at the fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009. ¶ The Venezuelan government requestedthe meeting, which lasted 40 minutes and was followed by the announcement that the governments

would embark on high-level talks aimed at improving bilateral relations. Of particular note, both sides expressed hope

that the reciprocal appointment of ambassadors would take place in short order; Chávez expelled the U.S. ambassador in 2008 a nd the United States retaliated inkind.¶ All of this is complicated by the outcome of the Venezuelan presidential election on April 14. The official results have named Nicolás Maduro the winner,having beaten opposition leader Henrique Capriles by a slim 1.5 percentage points —though the opposition continues to contest both the results and the audit.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/05/us-usa-venezuela-idUSBRE9541EG20130605



http://csis.org/publication/kerry-jaua-meeting-resetting-us-venezuela-relations







Case Specific



War on Drugs

U.S.-Mexican bilateral relationship continues to strengthen —ties strengthened interms of counternarcotics

Fox News Latino, 7/5/ 13*“U.S. Wants More Intelligence Cooperation With Mexico, White House Report States” Fox News Latino Online athttp://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/07/05/us-wants-more-intelligence-cooperation-with-mexico-white-house-report-states/#ixzz2YIgcOMAQ accessed July 6, 2013, AV]

A newly released White House report on the U.S. border with Mexico highlights the Obamaadministration's strategic shift toward forgoing a closer working relationship with its southernneighbor. This, despite recent restrictions by Enrique Peña Nieto's government on who American intelligence services can contact in Mexico.

The White House's 2013 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy illustrated nine points thatfocus on interdiction, tackling drug cartels along the border, halting money laundering, building upstronger communities and strengthening ties between the two nations in terms of counternarcotics.“The U.S.-Mexican bilateral relationship continues to grow based on strong, multi-layered institutionalties ,” the report stated. “Based on principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, and respect for sovere ign independence , the two

countries’ efforts have built confidence that continues to transform and strengthen the bilateralrelationship in 2013 and beyond.”

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/07/05/us-wants-more-intelligence-cooperation-with-mexico-white-house-report-states/#ixzz2YIgcOMAQ




China Counterplan - JDI 2013

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Transcript of China Counterplan - JDI 2013