{"id":50003188,"date":"2015-08-20T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=3188"},"modified":"2022-12-13T17:13:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T17:13:05","slug":"3188-china-must-overcome-image-crisis-in-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/3188-china-must-overcome-image-crisis-in-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"China must overcome image crisis in Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the wealth of opportunities presented by Beijing to improve Colombia\u2019s infrastructure, a third of Colombians still have a negative perception of China, according a recent survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The survey by the Pew Research Center<\/a> carried out in 44 countries revealed that last year only 48% of Latin Americans viewed China favourably, compared to 66% for the US. In Colombia, however, positive perceptions were among the lowest at 28%, compared to 56% in Peru, 60% in Chile and 67% in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Many Colombians are stuck with the idea of the Communist China of the 70s. It\u2019s obviously an outdated perception, but it still contributes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the proportion of Colombians with an unfavourable perception of China was 32%, lower than the 44% in Brazil but higher than the 26% in in Chile and Peru and the 19% in Nicaragua. More than 45% of Colombian respondents thought China\u2019s expansion into Latin America was a bad thing for their country, one of the highest rates in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Colombians are stuck with the idea of the Communist China of the 70s. It\u2019s obviously an outdated perception, but it still contributes,\u201d said Benjamin Creutzfeldt, a professor at the Bogot\u00e1-based College for Advanced Administration Studies<\/a> (CESA).<\/p>\n

According to Creutzfeldt, this generally negative view is enduring in nature and its proponents point to the environmental conflicts<\/a> surrounding big Chinese-funded infrastructure projects to justify it \u2013 but it is not driven by Colombia\u2019s \u201cenvironmental conscience\u201d, Creutzfeldt says.<\/p>\n

Prejudices<\/h2>\n

Creutzfeldt thinks that Colombia\u2019s business sector also harbours much prejudice towards China. Despite importing many Chinese products, Colombian businesspeople often don\u2019t admit their connection with China because they fear it will bring bad publicity by association, he says.<\/p>\n

This tentative engagement is reflected in China\u2019s comparatively low investment in boosting trade with Colombia. According to the Inter-American Dialogue\u2019s China-Latin America Finance Database<\/a>, prior to Li Keqiang\u2019s visit in May<\/a> this year, Colombia had received only US$ 75million in investment, which pales in comparison to the amounts lent to neighbours Venezuela <\/a>(US$ 56billion), Brazil <\/a>(US$ 22billion), Ecuador <\/a>(US$ 10.8billion) and Peru <\/a>(US$ 2.3billion). Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador have secured yet more credit since the China-CELAC summit<\/a> in Beijing in January.<\/p>\n

Gina Rodriguez, director of the China-Colombia Chamber of Commerce and Integration<\/a> admits that Colombians still know very little about China and that there is a \u201clong way\u201d to go to improve the trade and investment relationship between the countries. And she agrees with Creutzfeldt that for Colombia\u2019s collective imaginary everything \u2018made in China\u2019 is bad.<\/p>\n

The government keeps all the money in Bogot\u00e1 and none of it reaches the provinces, it\u2019s all eaten up by corruption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Speaking at a China-Latin America culture seminar in Bogot\u00e1 in May, China\u2019s Premier Li Keqiang emphasised the need to increase cultural exchanges between China and Colombia so as to lead to a better understanding and \u201cstrengthen practical cooperation<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Li Zhiguo, a long-time observer of Chinese overseas investments at Beijing-based law firm Dacheng<\/a>, argues that the success of commercial relations should be determined by the market, not by politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US\u2019 commercial engagement with Colombia is strictly business,\u201d Li told Di\u00e1logo Chino and added that irrespective of nationality, doing business properly should depend solely on a company\u2019s management capabilities.<\/p>\n

And according to Tatiana Roa, coordinator of green group CENSAT<\/a>, it\u2019s not the fault of Chinese or other investors that many big infrastructure works in Colombia remain uncompleted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government keeps all the money in Bogot\u00e1 and none of it reaches the provinces,\u201d says Roa, who claims; \u201cit\u2019s all eaten up by corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investment Plans<\/h2>\n

China\u2019s expansion into Colombia is part of its drive to build strategic alliances with the region which has involved\u00a0integrating with its more market-friendly economies<\/a>. Colombia\u2019s president Juan Manuel Santos and Chinese premier Li Keqiang signed a number of accords to develop infrastructure during Li\u2019s Latin America tour in May. But Environmental groups have voiced concern about some of the projects, including controversial plans to turn the Magdalena River into a logistics super-highway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are also plans to develop the giant Pacific port of Buenaventura and to build a road that runs alongside the Meta River, in the east of the country along the\u00a0border with Venezuela. The road is likely to affect communities who live and farm in the Meta basin.<\/p>\n

The Magdalena river project has been met with resistance from environmental groups but Roa points out that other companies also suffer similar public relations problems. She suggests that Colombians are misguided in their heightened wariness of Chinese over US or European companies.<\/p>\n

Creutzfeldt argues that Colombia should learn from China in addressing its pressing development issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a positive thing that China is promising to participate in the development of Colombia\u2019s infrastructure,\u201d Creutzfeldt says.<\/p>\n

But the environmental crisis caused by such rapid\u00a0development at home is part of what concerns Colombians, says Roa, although she warns against hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not pretend the situation here is much better. The degradation of Colombia\u2019s environment is very bad,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Misconceptions harm business between nations despite friendly declarations and development funding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40000225,"featured_media":50022824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[758],"tags":[544,556,600],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000110,50000025],"class_list":["post-50003188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-finance","tag-infrastructure","tag-trade","country-china","country-colombia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina must overcome image crisis in Colombia | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Misconceptions harm business between nations despite friendly declarations and development funding\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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