Open QuestionsFrancisco Urdinez on how Venezuela tests China’s economic advance in Latin America

A leading scholar says US action in Venezuela shows how Beijing’s economic ties now face rising geopolitical pushback

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Published: 6:00am, 29 Jan 2026Updated: 11:50am, 29 Jan 2026

One of the leading scholars of China-Latin America relations, Francisco Urdinez is known for coining the concept of “economic displacement”, a theory that also gives its name to his Cambridge University Press book title published in November. The idea holds that China’s rise has reduced US relevance in the region by making partnerships with Beijing more consequential and ties with Washington less essential for many governments. Now, in the wake of US attacks on Caracas and the abduction of Nicolas Maduro, Urdinez examines how Venezuela could upend that framework and reshape perceptions of US-China competition in Latin America and beyond. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here.

Can you please explain your concept of economic displacement, how that applies to the US-China competition in Latin America?

I had a feeling that it was impossible to really explain China’s amazing economic rise in the Global South, in Latin America, but also Africa and Southeast Asia, without taking into consideration how the US behaved during that same time. To do this, I thought I needed a metric, an index, a parsimonious variable that could exemplify or show me at a certain time, in a certain year, in a certain country, how much leverage and economic weight China exerted on one country. And to me, it was very important to have a similar comparison to the US.

What I did was use the existing literature in political science and international relations to compose an index of the main variables, which include trade, aid, finance and investment, into one single metric, which is weighted or measured relative to the country’s GDP. You end up with a measure of relative weight: how much China’s activities represent in a certain country vis-a-vis what the US is representing.

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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A leading scholar says US action in Venezuela shows how Beijing’s economic ties now face rising geopolitical pushback

A leading scholar says US action in Venezuela shows how Beijing’s economic ties now face rising geopolitical pushback