CRIES launches a new issue of LAC Focus, a publication aimed at providing concise to the point analysis of key subjects in the Latin American and Caribbean agenda. LAC Focus is written by researchers from the CRIES network, using their insights on relevant issues that have an impact on the role the region plays in global affairs.

This fourth issue of LAC Focus is written by Harold A. Trinkunas who is the Charles W. Robinson Chair and senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution.

This document is based on the report of one of the two working groups, chaired by Professor Andrés Serbin from CRIES, during the conference “China-LAC Overall Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges” organized by the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) and held in Shanghai on the 24^th of 25^th of November 2015. We would like to specially thank Dr. Haibin Niu, one of the organizers of the conference, and the SIIS for authorizing its dissemination as one of the LAC Focus issues.