Unpacking the black box: Exogenous and endogenous actors in China’s extractive investment in Latin America

Early literature on contemporary China – Latin American relations tended to overlook or homogenize the wide variety of Chinese actors engaged in the region. In the last few years more empirical data has been gathered and research on China’s Latin American footprint has grown more sophisticated. Recent publications emphasize the importance of exploring the differences between the wide range of institutions, companies and individuals involved in the wave of Chinese investments. In the mining and oil sectors, there are overarching characteristics that render Chinese investments a plausible unit of analysis. However, the complex industrial organization of extractive sectors implies that Chinese companies rely heavily on local and international partners. Therefore, a significant number of the actors involved in shaping the everyday realities of Chinese investment are in fact non-Chinese institutions, companies and individuals. This paper explores the embeddedness of Chinese mining firms in Peru in order to understand how exogenous and endogenous actors shape the everyday practices of Chinese mining companies.