Last November, just before 2008’s APEC conference in Lima, Peru, China made news by releasing its first policy white paper describing its overall strategy for engagement with Latin American and the Caribbean. It’s a lengthy and far-ranging document, with sections devoted to political visits, trade cooperation and even sports exchanges. One finishes this document thinking: China’s top priority in Latin America may be procuring natural resources, but it has much more planned than that.

What about the reverse? Does, say, Brazil have an overall strategy for engaging with China? Has it been codified in its own white paper? Are Brazilian students flocking to Chinese language programs in Sao Paulo to gain a leg-up for the explosion of Chinese investment that’s to come over the next twenty years? The answers are all no. From Reuters:

China and Latin American specialists speaking at a conference in Sao Paulo said China sees Latin America as vital to its own future energy, food and economic security, but that the region had been slow to develop China policies.

“Latin America is acting toward China’s expansion in the world in a reactive, disorganized or ad hoc fashion,” said David Shambaugh, professor of political science at The George Washington University.

“When I asked Itamaraty (Brazil’s foreign ministry) about its strategy on China, I got blank stares. There is no strategy.”

Shambaugh, who is very well-respected on China-Latin American relations, has talked about Latin America’s unpreparedness for China before. Countries like Brazil and Argentina granted China market economy status years ago, which has created problems as Chinese manufactuers undercut local producers. “It’s almost as if these (countries) didn’t do their homework,” said Shambaugh. “The United States, Europe, Japan and Australia did not grant China market economy status.”

This alleged lack of strategy includes language. The article notes there are only two serious Chinese language studies programs in all of Latin America, one in Mexico City, the other in Buenos Aires. It is telling that in Latin America, the biggest development in Chinese language learning has come from China itself, in the form of its promoting Confucius Institutes abroad. These centers, which promote Chinese language learning and culture, are springing up throughout Latin America and the rest of the world. As of May, 328 institutes had been established, including a new one at Catolica University in Santiago, Chile.

I’ll add tourism to this list as well. Traveling in Peru, Chile and Argentina, I often asked tour operators about the prospect of Chinese tourists. Many of their eyes lit up at the prospect of a billion customers. Like many countries, Latin American countries are anticipating a wave of newly monied Chinese tourists to arrive in the coming years.

Yet, aside from some enterprising Chinese and Taiwanese businessmen I met in Lima, no one I spoke to was prepared to handle Chinese-speaking tour groups. Nearly no one in these tourism industries speak the language or understand the, um, unique demands of the Chinese tourist (hot water thermoses, slippers, casinos, shopping). It seems that when the tourism wave hits Latin America, it will be Chinese-owned (or ethnically Chinese-owned) tourism companies that will cash in.

So, how long will Latin American countries wait before they formulate their own China strategy?