The most interesting thing about China’s new President Xi Jinping’s first official trip to Latin America was that he did not set foot in Cuba, Venezuela or any other of China’s political allies in the region — which would have received a huge propaganda boost from such a visit.
Instead, during his eight-day Latin America tour, Xi visited Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico, some of the region’s closest US allies. From there, he flew to California for a meeting with President Barack Obama.
The conventional wisdom among US analysts is that Xi’s choice of countries to visit during his Latin America tour — and the fact that he was the first Chinese president in recent memory who did not stop in Cuba during a hemispheric visit — are part of China’s growing courtship of
