In October 2015, Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, announced an unprecedented expansion of financial support by and economic engagement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). China’s Export–Import Bank had agreed to provide $7.5 billion in loans to fund 11 “strategic projects” contemplated in Bolivia’s 2016–2020 National Economic and Social Development Plan, with the work to be done by Chinese companies. In the process, Bolivia’s national debt would more than double to $13 billion.1
The announcement was the culmination of a growing relationship between China and Bolivia which has begun to bear fruit, especially in purchases of Chinese products and Chinese construc- tion companies work for the Bolivian state. The China–Bolivia relationship has not always deve- loped so rapidly. From the 2003 conflict over the export of Bolivian gas, until the resolution of Bolivia’s constitutional crisis in January 2009, the lack of stability in the country both impeded the Bolivian government and gave pause to its Chinese suitor.2
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