China’s bilateral and minilateral relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean: the case of China–CELAC Forum

ABSTRACT Drawing on Qin Yaqing’s notion of relational power, this article analyses how, why and through what mechanisms Chinese international initiatives diffuse Chinese ideas and practices and facilitate the projection of its power in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In an era of crisis of multilateralism and neoliberal globalization and confronted with the global COVID-19 crisis, Chinese cooperation with a politically fragmented region that has for long been dominated by the United States has involved the deployment of bilateral, minilateral and multilateral relationships from the foundation of the China–CELAC Forum and the extension of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to embrace LAC up until the relaunching of the Health Silk Road. Adaptive processes of multilevel cooperation and the projection of soft power contribute to the emergence of a hybrid geopolitical landscape.