United States | Program Director, Asia & Latin America
Margaret Myers is the director of the Asia & Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She established the Dialogue’s China and Latin America Working Group in 2011 to examine China’s growing presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Myers also developed the China-Latin America Finance Database, the only publicly available source of empirical data on Chinese state lending in Latin America, in cooperation with Boston University’s Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI).
In addition to maintaining the Dialogue’s China and Latin America and 美洲对话 blogs, Myers has published numerous articles on Chinese leadership dynamics, international capital flows, Chinese agricultural policy, and Asia-Latin America relations, among other topics. The Political Economy of China-Latin America Relations and The Changing Currents of Trans-Pacific Integration: China, the TPP, and Beyond, her co-edited volumes with Dr. Carol Wise and Dr. Adrian Hearn, respectively, were published in 2016. Myers has testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the China-Latin America relationship and is regularly featured in major domestic and international media, including the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, El Comercio, Folha de São Paulo, CNN en Español, CCTV, and Voice of America. In 2018, she was identified by Global Americans as part of the “new generation of public intellectuals.”
Before arriving at the Dialogue, Myers worked as a Latin America analyst and China analyst for the US Department of Defense, during which time she was deployed with the US Navy in support of Partnership of the Americas. Myers also worked as a senior China analyst for Science Applications International Corporation, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, a faculty member at Georgetown University, and for Fauquier County Schools, where she developed the county’s first Mandarin language program. Myers received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and conducted her graduate work at The George Washington University, Zhejiang University of Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University/Nanjing University Center for Chinese-American Studies. Myers is a Council on Foreign Relations term member. She was the recipient of a Freeman fellowship for China studies and a Fulbright Specialist grant to research China-Colombia relations in Bogotá.
China this month agreed to extend $5 billion in credit to Venezuela as the South American country faces severe economic problems including hyperinflation and dire shortages of food, medicines and basic goods. Finance Minister Simón Zerpa announced the credit line as President Nicolás Maduro was departing for China to seek…
Latin American governments are increasingly looking to China to address the region’s glaring infrastructure deficit. However, if history is any indication, China’s commitment to Latin American infrastructure development is unlikely to result in a slew of mega-projects in the coming years.
El Salvador on Aug. 21 became the latest country to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of establishing them with China. The move left Taiwan with just 17 nations that recognize its government, nine of which are in Latin America and the Caribbean. Why did El Salvador’s government make…
Latin America isn’t yet part of the Belt and Road, but China showed sustained interest in the region during the recent China-CELAC Ministerial Forum.
The coastal city of Zhuhai in China’s Guangdong province is quickly becoming a focal point of China’s efforts to strengthen relations with the LAC region.
What will the Chinese Communist Party’s recent leadership reshuffle mean for China’s future engagement with Latin America?
Between the BRI and the Taiwan switches, China’s presence and influence is really alarming people in DC.
[Más allá de la Franja y la Ruta,] los riesgos surgen cuando se negocian acuerdos reales, por ejemplo el tren Panamá - David, una refinería en una isla... Ahí es cuando se necesita que los países latinoamericanos tengan la capacidad técnica para negociar con los chinos acuerdos que sean de verdad mutuamente beneficiosos. [Ese] es el desafío.
