[ES] The growing importance of China is altering the world order and questioning the hegemony of the major Western powers. The Asian country has experienced an incredible evolution over the past thirty-40 years, from a closed and fully planned economy by the state, to a socialist market system, which has also been qualified as “socialism with Chinese characteristics” or the “Chinese model”. This process of reform and economic openness has put the major Asian power as the second largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, and forecasts suggest that it could overtake the US in the coming years. China’s role in the global economy has evolved increasingly since the start of its reform process in 1978, and now plays a key role in terms of trade, investment and international cooperation. Although China is still considered a developing country, and still presents a multitude of domestic challenges, it has undoubtedly become a major player in the globalised global system, not only in economic but also geopolitical terms. Since the late 90s, China has intensified its relations with developing regions, such as Africa or Latin America, strengthening its diplomatic ties and promoting alliances between countries in the southern hemisphere. Despite the emphasis placed by the Asian country on defending these links of complementarity and mutual benefit, its interest in these regions has focused mainly on raw materials. China’s impact on Latin America and the Caribbean has been remarkable. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela..., countries rich in mineral and agricultural resources have seen their exports to the Asian giant growing rapidly over the last decade, to meet Chinese needs. China needs to import large quantities of raw materials in order to maintain its high economic growth, industrial development, and to supply the food needs of its population, with an increasingly demanding middle class and a consumer. This increase in demand has benefited commodities exporting countries, which have seen prices on an upward path for a long period of time. China’s influence has allowed the countries in the region to reduce their dependence in the US and the EU. In addition, China’s strong economic growth helped to counteract the effects of the major economic crisis, minimising the fall in demand from the USA and Europe and the fall in prices during those years. However, China’s growth, despite remaining high, seems to be slowing down. Rising demand for commodities is declining and prices fall, which obviously has a negative impact on Latin America, a region historically dependent on raw material exports, although this may also open the door to seeking new forms of cooperation beyond trade in primary goods. In this work, the cases of Chile and Venezuela, two of the countries with the strongest links with China in the region, will be studied and compared. The specific characteristics of each country (political, economic, historical and social) and their contrasts in their dealings with China make it particularly interesting to compare these two cases. The differences in the connections between the two countries with China are varied; in the case of Chile, the relationship is mainly trade, and has intensified since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in 2005, while in the Venezuelan case, China is more intense in the form of financing and construction contracts, with certain particularities. However, both Chile and Venezuela share a common feature: its relations with China revolve around its abundant natural resources: copper and petroleum respectively. Delegated archive