Archives » Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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Joseph Contreras
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Nov 27, 2007 10:53 AM
While the eyes of the world are understandably focused on today's Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, Md., another diplomatic parley is getting underway in Washington that has a direct bearing on U.S. policy in Latin America. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jr. is hosting his counterpart in the Chinese Foreign Ministry for two days of talks at the State Department that will concentrate on economic development issues and specific countries in the region that are of interest to both Washington and Beijing. China's bilateral trade with Latin America has nearly tripled in the past four years, and this week's meetings with director-general Yang Wan Ming represent a follow-up to the discussions that Shannon held with Chinese officials during a visit to Beijing in April 2006. That trip represented the first ever visit to China by the State Department's top official on Latin America, and it reflected in part mounting concern in the Bush Administration over Beijing's dramatically enhanced profile in a region that has traditionally been viewed as Washington's natural sphere of influence. The opening of a low-profile channel of communication with the Chinese is also one more example of the quiet but effective diplomacy that has stamped Shannon's tenure as assistant secretary since he took over the position in the fall of 2005.
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