China's Energy Security Toward Latin America And Its Implications For The U.S.

Energy is the key element for development and economic prosperity for any country; moreover it is the engine to move forwards all of the industries. The world has witnessed in the last three decades how energy has played an important role in China's economic miracle, very few could even imagine China one day will be the biggest producer of goods, the biggest consumer of energy and the fastest growing economy. Energy is extraordinary important in today's world that it became a state concern for governments to secure this natural resource, in order to be able to provide it for further economic development of the country. Energy security is a subject of relevant interest and analysis that in recent years has been a serious factor of confrontation and political disputes. The great need of energy to incentive the industrial development and economic growth pushes forward any country but in particular China to search oil abroad, China has created strategies to approach regions in the world like Latin America which poses extensive amounts of natural resources and oil.The region Latin America historically has been influenced by the United States, which has strong presence related to politics, military and without doubt economy. China's approach to Latin America brings severe implications to the United States in particular with the previously mentioned interests. The paper analyzes the energy situation in China and its strategies toward Latin America, it also provides a broad perspective of the Latin America political and energetic situation as well as it explains why China's approach to the region implies an increase threat to the U.S. interests. At the end it provides alternatives for the United States to cope with China's approach and there are some suggested strategies for both countries to get deeper engaged with Latin America.