從國家利益的角度來觀察國家外交政策是一個常見的方式，本文即嘗試從國家利益的角度切入，並佐以雙邊政經互動現況，來觀察拉美地區在中共對外關係中之定位，結果發現此區之於中共外交並非重要利益區，中共自不會將過多的有限資源耗費於此。然因中美洲現係我國外交重鎮，為打擊我國之國際活動空間，中共對於我在拉美地區邦交國多半採取伺機而動的靈活政策，一旦我與該區國家關係稍疏遠，中共多會趁虛介入。

The article is an attempt to determine Latin America's importance in the People's Republic of China ( PRC )'S foreign policy via a study of their bilateral political and economic relations from the perspective of national interests. Itis found that Latin America is not an important interest zone in the PRC's foreign policy and Beijing will not use too much of its limited resources in this area. Latin America does have an important status in Taiwan's foreign policy， however. To reduce Taiwan's international political space， Beijing has always watched for chances to win over those Latin American countries having formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.