While it would seem that China's huge surpluses amid sustained growth eliminate any comparative relevance to Latin America, the paper argues that analogous vulnerabilities exist. Capital account volatility and China's relatively subordinate position within the massive rerouting of international production networks via China, point to this. In fact, overly optimistic appraisals of China's strength underestimate many of its persisting structural vulnerabilities as a contemporary developing country and distract attention away from important lessons for other developing countries.

*THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISS Working Paper No. 496, February 2010, available at http://biblio.iss.nl/opac/uploads/wp/wp496.pdf

March 8, 2010.