在2001年4月中共國家主席江澤民出訪南美洲及加勒比海地區六國之 後，北京當局對於拉丁美洲的外交作為趨於積極，特別是與區域大國之間的 互動有明顯的擴展。其後，胡錦濤於2004年11月再度往訪南美洲ABC三 國及古巴，雙方的實質關係更進一步提升到全面性的「戰略伙伴」層次。中 共對於拉美國家外交行動的強化為其「南南外交」戰略下重要的一環，其内 涵除了推動發展中國家共同致力於建立公正合理的國際政治經濟新秩序而 外，更實際的目的在於期望拉美豐富的能源薇藏及原物料出口，能為中共本 身的經濟發展提供一個穩定的供應來源。中共的影響力深入拉美腹地，自然 會牽動美國最敏感的一根神經，華盛頓當局正密切注視著中共的拉美政策是 否會強烈地衝撞美國的傳統地緣戰略利益。由於能源安全是廿一世紀中共全 球戰略的主軸之一，因之中共在拉美的外交作為對照到亞太地區，也可以看 到類似的表現，不同的是亞太地緣政治的複雜性與潛在的衝突性遠高於拉丁 美洲，這也為區域情勢的未來發展添加了若干不穩定的因子。

After the visit of the President of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, to the six countries of South America and the Caribbean region in April 2001, Beijing has turned to hold an active attitude towards their relations with Latin America, particularly with certain potent countries in the region. Afterwards, Hu Jintao^ visit to the three ABC countries of South America and Cuba elevated even more their relations to an overall “strategy partners” level. The intensification of the diplomatic actions in Latin America is a crucial part of China’s “South-South” strategy, with aims of not only promoting the collective efforts of developing countries to build up a fair and reasonable new international political economic order, but also, with the abundant energy resources and the exportation of raw materials of Latin America, providing a stable supply for the economic development of China. The extension of China’s influence to Latin America certainly is a sensitive issue to the US. Washington has been watching out for if China’s policy in Latin America will make serious impacts on the traditional geographical interests of the US. Since the energy safety is one of the main concerns of China in the 21th Century, the similar performance can also be seen in the Asia-Pacific area, but the difference is that in this area, there are far more geopolitical complexity and potential conflicts, and this would increase the instability in the area.a