US alarm at China's Latin influence

[...]
"The Chinese government has removed 400 million people from poverty," says Tang,

"They participate in economic life and live with dignity."

[...]
Since an exchange of visits between Brazil's left-leaning President, Lula da Silva and China's President Hu Jintao two years ago, Chinese money has been pouring into Latin America, transport, energy, ports, steel - all under the umbrella of a new strategic partnership.
After meeting Tang, I ended up in the Brazilian heat, shoes clogged with ploughed earth, in a field where sugar cane was being planted.

The cane is made into the bio-friendly fuel ethanol, and Tang wants to broker a deal to sell ethanol to China.

The workers there, heads covered against the sun, faces grained with a life on the land, get paid seasonally by how much they plant or harvest.

"What about the new markets in China?" I asked.

They had heard about them.

"The more work we get, the more money we earn," said one of the older men, his expression impassive.
[...]