China and Latin America aren’t the world’s likeliest alliance. However, since the late 1990s, China has been involved with Latin America, both economically and socially.

Peter Gries, director of OU’s Institute for U.S.-China Issues, and Alan McPherson, Latin American Studies chairman, decided to raise awareness of this growing relationship by inviting three distinguished speakers to a roundtable discussion about China’s stake in Latin America Thursday.

Evan Ellis, a professor at the National Defense University Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in Washington, D.C., Carol Wise, a national relations professor at the University of Southern California, and Allen Carlson, a government professor at Cornell University in New York, discussed different aspects of China’s growing presence in Latin America, as well as China’s emerging status as a world superpower.

Ellis presented a broad look at the relationship between China and Latin America. The trade volume between the two has grown to 15 times what it was 10 years, Ellis said.

“It’s important to mention that it’s not only Chinese interest in petroleum and mineral resources, but that China also has a very serious problem with feeding its very large population,” Ellis said.

Ellis also spoke of China’s desire to become an economic superpower.

“China does not always want to sell cheap toys and footwear,” he said. “It’s moving up the ladder and using Latin America as a jumping point.”

China and Latin America have already benefited from their relationship and will certainly benefit more, Wise said.

Some effects include a closer collaboration between business chambers and a “major” effort by the Chinese to introduce culture — they established Confucian institutes in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Brazil, where locals can study Mandarin.

“There is a higher lucrative exchange between countries that have resources that China need, and that includes Latin America,” Wise said. “The relations are ongoing.”

Latin American relations still play a small role in the Chinese economy, Carlson said.

Approximately 50 students and faculty members attended the lecture in Hester Hall. The event was sponsored by the OU Institute for U.S.-China Issues and the ConocoPhillips Chair in Latin American Studies program.