Rosario Santa Gadea. Doctor of International Economics. Specialist in China and Asia-Pacific. Former Director of the Center for China and Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of the
Pacific in Peru
Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea, former director of the Center for China and Asia Pacific Studies at the University of the Pacific in Peru, is a renowned Latin American economist who mainly focuses on China and Asia-Pacific issues and China-Peru/Latin America economic relations with regards to trade and investment, comparative economic development, connectivity and regional as well as global economic integration. Her research includes several books and multiple articles and research reports published in Latin America, Europe, the United States, and China. In April 2024, Chongqing Currents met with Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea in Chongqing.
Chongqing Currents: Why do you believe in the Chinese economy? What do you think are the future growth points of the Chinese economy?
Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea: China has transformed itself tremendously in the last forty years，It has become the second economy in the world and also represents an engine of the world economy. In my view, one of the principal achievements of China has been to maintain the highest labor productivity growth rate in the last decades in comparison to the rest of the Asia-Pacific economies. Despite the recent slowdown in the Chinese growth rate it continues to be higher than those of the Western economies. Concerning China's future growth points, one of the most important is innovation for industrial modernization. On this basis China will continue going up in the global value chains. Another growth point is China's internal market, which is constantly enlarging and represents one of the most important engines of China's future economic development, together with the involvement of China in the world economy. This is the strategy of "dual circulation economy". The third growth point is the importance of deepening the economic reforms in China in order to maintain its international competitiveness in the world market economy.
Chongqing Currents: The mainland of China is thousands of miles away from South America, and the "Belt and Road" initiative has been widely responded by South American countries. How do you evaluate the positive changes brought by the "Belt and Road" to South American countries?
Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea: I should say that I consider the "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI) as an opportunity for development. For South America, and Latin America as a whole, the BRI actually implies the extension to the Pacific of the "Maritime Route of the Twenty First Century". The possibility is now open to have a direct maritime route from South America to China through the South Pacific. In this regards, the construction of the port of Chancay, in a city located 80 kilometers north of Lima, the capital of Peru, is one of the landmark projects of the BRI in Latin America. This project is being implemented by the Chinese firm Cosco Shipping Ports in joint venture with Volcan Mining, a Peruvian firm. It includes building multi-purpose and container terminals as well as logistic facilities. After its completion, the port of Chancay will become an important transportation hub and logistic center along the South Pacific coast of Latin America, greatly facilitating import and export trade between Peru and South America, on one side, and China and the Asia-Pacific region, on the other side. This megaport plans to receive the largest ships in the world and will considerably reduce the time taken by the trip between South America and China, with gains in efficiency and reduction of logistic cost. The port will be inaugurated at the end of this year, when the first phase of investment will be completed. It is expected that President Xi Jinping will be in its inauguration since he will visit Peru for participating in the APEC Summit. In my view, the vision of the port of Chancay for the future should be to become the basis of a "transpacific economic corridor", within the BRI. This will imply, not only improvements in connectivity with the other side of the Pacific, but also industrial and technological projects, to be implemented with the participation of Chinese and other foreign direct investments, with orientation towards the global market. The implementation of a "special economic zone" in Chancay should serve to this purpose.
Chongqing Currents: Is it your first time in Chongqing? What are the impressions Chongqing has left you? As the world's largest inland city, what development experiences does Chongqing have that are worth learning from South American cities?
Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea: It is my first time in Chongqing but is not my first time in China where I have been eight times in nine years. Apart from the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have had the opportunity to make academic missions to China more or less once a year as director of the Center for China and Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of the Pacific in Lima. One of the main goals of these academic missions has been to establish a network with Chinese scholars in order to undertake joint activities including conferences, workshops, research projects, common publications, etc. Chongqing is an emblematic city that shows how China has proceeded with regards to the development of the central and southern provinces and cities. I am impressed by the huge investment in infrastructure for connectivity here. I understand that the free trade zones and/or the special economic zones implemented in Chongqing are important platforms to promote industrial development, particularly in advanced and technological industries where innovation plays an important role. I believe that Chongqing’s industrial and urban development is worth learning from South American countries.
Chongqing Currents: In May 2023, the Peruvian Ambassador to China, H.E. Marco Balarezo, stated in Chongqing that Chongqing and Peru could complement each other's strengths and develop together in many aspects. This time, you came to this most important city in western China. What suggestions do you have for Chongqing and Peru cooperate?
Doctor Rosario Santa Gadea: I think that, in order to develop our relationship in trade and investment, as well as to exchange experiences in industrial, urban and regional development, we need to make concrete studies to recognize our complementarities and identify the learning lessons from Chongqing's experiences of development. This is a case whose study could be useful for promoting regional development in Peru, of course taking into account that the institutional frameworks between China and Peru are very different and so it is not the purpose to copy but to adapt. It is necessary to get to know each other better and, from that basis, identify the more promising areas for cooperation, trade, investment and so on. This is a role that we could undertake together, in the academic side, between scholars from Peru and Chongqing.
Chinese Article: Zeng Rui
Photos: Zeng Rui, Chongqing Municipal Commerce Commission