China on Latin American buying spree to lock in long-term needs in oil, minerals, food

Ian James, Associated Press, On Sunday June 5, 2011, 11:49 am EDT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Latin America is blessed with a wealth of natural resources such as oil, copper and soy, and seeks investment and loans to capitalize on them. China needs the commodities to keep its economy growing and has about $3 trillion in reserves to burn.

Those interests have come together in a burgeoning and unorthodox partnership, as China lends and invests tens of billions of dollars in countries around Latin America in return for a guaranteed flow of commodities, particularly oil.

Recent deals have made China a key financier to the governments of Venezuela and Argentina. At the same time, Chinese companies have secured a decade's worth of oil from Venezuela and Brazil, and steady supplies of wheat, soybeans and natural gas from Argentina.

Full story:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iE1pk13beyKCKo2kRK6A3_FPjiIg?docId=f75dacc859eb45979a941ae558a7d45e