A Comparative Study Of Cooperation Between The United States, China And Latin America

The interregionalism is a kind of institutionalized relationship, which is able to promote the exchanges and cooperation between different regions. Since the 1990’s,with a rapid development of globalization and regionalization, the interregionalism experienced an accelerated development, of which its depth and breadth had been obviously strengthened, that permitted it to play a more and more important role in the regional and global governance.In the United States, opinions and practices on interregionalism could be seen in early years of its foundation, and gradually formed its own characteristics. The Organization of American States(OAS), established between the United States and the Latin American countries, had been considered as the oldest international organization in the Western Hemisphere, and also the main carrier of the inter-regional cooperation between them. It is an important platform for the United States to implement regional governance and cooperation in Latin America.In recent years, the Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping have further proposed to establish a new style of international relations which takes the win-win cooperation as its core. In this context, in July 2014, China announced the establishment of a comprehensive partnership with Latin America, based on equality,mutual benefit and common development, and at the same time the establishment of the China-CELAC forum. In January 2015, the first session of the Ministerial Meeting of the forum was held successfully in Beijing, marking the official launch of the forum, pointing a new road map of inter-regional cooperation with the purpose of win-win cooperation, different from the US-Latin American model. On the other hand,the inter-regional cooperation between the United States and the Latin American countries,has its long history and sophisticated system, which can provide good experiences and lessons, as well as important enlightenments, to the new born inter-regional cooperation between China and Latin America.This article summarizes the concept and functions of the theory of interregionalism, in order to seek a theoretical support, as well as to point out the shortcomings of the present studies, that is exclude the super powers and emerging powers out of the concept, ignoring their actual role played in the inter-regionalcooperation. And then, reviews the process of US-Latin America inter-regional cooperation, emphatically an analysis in its different historical periods. Uses the method of combining the theoretical and empirical to analyze the characteristics of the US-Latin America inter-regional cooperation, and its influence on the relations between the two parts; briefly introduces the background of establishment, principles and mechanisms of the China-CELAC Forum and studies on the significance of US-Latin America inter-regional cooperation to the one between China and Latin America, and the formation of preliminary suggestion for the future development of the China-CELAC Forum. Finally, forms perspectives on the future development and possible functions of the forum.