Introduction: Africa, Latin America and the 'Asian century'

Since the eighties, the centre of the international system’s economic, political and cultural power has shifted from the West towards Asia-Pacific. Countries such as China and India are consolidating themselves as economic powers seeking new routes for investment flows and development cooperation. The positions of Africa and Latin America in this process have been little studied. This is the objective of this issue: to investigate – in the context of Asian expansion and investment (above all that of China) – the extent to which the two regions maintain bilateral relations (cooperative and/or competitive) and may be able to formulate their own development and foreign policy initiatives. The articles in this issue pay particular attention to South-South cooperation between Latin America and Africa and include underexplored aspects such as migration patterns and the competition between China and regional powers such as Brazil and South Africa.