One belt, many layers: legal pluralisms and geoeconomies of the Silk Road in Latin American countries

Abstract

Based on Chinese penetration into Latin America through the New Silk Road (BRI), this article analyzes the Chinese geoeconomy in the region based on the categories of soft law and hard law, which describe the nature of the accession agreements to the BRI, and the contracts that materialize the BRI projects, in which Chinese state-owned companies significantly participate. Understanding the People’s Republic of China’s vision of law as an instrument that materializes policies, the article proposes that Latin American countries can take advantage of this legal pluralism for geoeconomic hedging, thus opening a space to take advantage of the BRI not only to be recipients of prioritized investments from the People’s Republic of China, but to actively determine priorities and maximize interests.