Global China on the Ground: China-Argentina Relations Beyond Geopolitics

In this episode of Mapping Global China Conversations, we speak with Dr. Maximo Badaro, researcher at CONICET (Argentina) and Professor of Social Anthropology at the Universidad Nacional de San Martin, where he directs the Global China Studies Program. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in both China and Argentina, Dr. Badaro offers an anthropological perspective on China’s growing presence in Latin America, moving beyond simplified geopolitical narratives. The conversation explores: 

• What “Global China” means as an analytical concept

• China’s role in Argentina’s trade, infrastructure, mining, and automotive sectors

• The absence of a single “master plan” and the importance of negotiation, improvisation, and local contexts

• Provincial origins of Chinese companies and their impact abroad

• Symbolic power, value creation, and how Chinese goods reshape perceptions of technology and status

• Insights from luxury markets, intermediaries, and global hierarchies of value

Rather than viewing China as a monolithic actor, this discussion highlights Global China as a dynamic, fragmented, and human process, constantly reshaped on the ground by multiple actors.