The first ministerial meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held in Beijing recently denoted that China's engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has entered in an era of strategic transition by mapping out an action plan with the LAC countries. China's new initiative ushers in a new era for comprehensive cooperation mechanism with far-reaching implication.

The bilateral approach adopted by China since the late 1990s with selected countries in the Western Hemisphere has been traditionally focused on trade issues through a lens of economic perspective, while the political agendas were left behind mainly due to three factors: first, China's lack of a concise knowledge about LAC's internal socioeconomic and political dynamic; second, LAC's constant failure to achieve a cohesive integration capable of drawing a common policy for its structural development; and, third, the shadow of US dominance rooted in the mindset of citizens and governments of the region.

In the second decade of this century, globalization and regional integration in Latin American region are shifting commercial, economic and financial relations between both actors from complementarity to mutual cooperation.

In this context, China's LAC policy has been redefined through a multilateral approach, since President Xi Jinping committed to advancing political relations with the peaceful and natural resources-rich region. In turn, this redefinition comes at a time when governments in LAC are advocating integration in order to tackle the pressuring issues affecting their societies.

CELAC is a new attempt to achieve the integration of all countries in the region by excluding the US and Canada, which arguably turns the idea of Pan-Americanism into a narrower and clear-cut notion of Latin-Americanism and may also reshape LAC's relationship with the US, while focusing on strengthening its relationship with extra-regional actors, notably, China.

Through this cooperation forum, China has three main opportunities: first, to use it as a mechanism for political consultation with the Latin American region; second, to advance political contacts with many Central American and Caribbean countries with which it currently does not have diplomatic relations; and, third, to use it as the main platform for financial and economic cooperation with the region.

Economic restructuring in China is having an impact in Latin America as the demands for raw materials have decreased but commodities exporter countries are still relying on this sector to fund their social and public programs. The raw material export-oriented pattern of development has proven to be an unsustainable model for the region. The current plunge in the prices of oil and minerals are affecting the traditional framework enclosing LAC's ties with China in the trade realm.

LAC needs to upgrade its value chain and absorb more inward FDI, but this can only be achieved through a unified and integrated development policy based on consensus among all regional actors.

Ecuador President Rafael Correa, when speaking at Tsinghua University on January 7, emphasized the need of LAC to receive financial support in order to advance social and public projects.

However, he also made it clear that despite the fact that China is notably willing to cooperate, countries in LAC need to elaborate a specific development agenda for the betterment.

A day before, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís, when speaking at Renmin University of China, talked about the reformulation of a "new world order" in which the 600 million people of Latin America are playing a key role in the new balance of power.

The complexity and diversity of LAC not only pose challenges to the region's path toward integration but also to China's quest for political and economic commitments.

To overcome the current challenges, Beijing should measure and assess the effectiveness of its political and economic initiatives, while assuring the transparence and accountability that in turn may upgrade China's role and image in the region. Moreover, China should take a more flexible approach toward the 12 LAC countries without diplomatic ties.