Professional Affiliation

Visiting Professor, Sabana University (Bogota, Colombia) & Non-resident Fellow, SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University

Expert Bio

A China scholar of German and British extraction, Creutzfeldt graduated with a BA in Chinese Studies from Durham University in England and earned his MA from SOAS, University of London, whereupon he joined Christie’s as an auctioneer and specialist for Chinese porcelain and works of art. He has studied and worked extensively in China over the past two decades, and has co-founded and managed multiple start-up companies. For over eight years, he was a university lecturer for China and East Asian Studies in Bogota, Colombia. He received his PhD in political studies in 2015 for research on China’s foreign policy towards Latin America, under the supervision of Qin Yaqing (China Foreign Affairs University) and Matt Ferchen (Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy). Prior to his appointment as a Wilson Fellow, he was Resident Postdoctoral Fellow for China-Latin America-U.S. Affairs at the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.

Wilson Center Project

Foreign Policy and Public Goods: Latin America between China and the United States

Project Summary

China’s relations with Latin America have emerged as a highly dynamic growth area, and economic analyses on the relationship abound. But there is more to this transpacific exchange than goods and money: it also offers new perspectives and opportunities. Inasmuch as the countries of Latin America face the challenges of rising inequality, inadequate physical integration, low education and skills levels, and environmental degradation, Chinese experience and strategic interests have the potential to either exacerbate or mitigate these issues. This project recognizes that despite the Chinese government’s approach marked by “peaceful development” and non-intervention, it is also increasingly responding to national realities and diverse reactions from the different countries and their governments. It considers that China is effectively intervening, albeit subtly, in the socioeconomic development and policy decisions of its partner countries.

Major Publications

B. Creutzfeldt, 2017. "Latin American Views of Chinese and U.S. Policy." Chap. 4 In China, the United States, and the Future of Latin America, edited by David B.H. Denoon. U.S.-China Relations, 83-106. New York University Press.

 

B. Creutzfeldt, 2016. "Not All Plain Sailing: Opportunities and Pitfalls for Chinese Investment in Peru." Asian Perspective 40, no. 4: 603-26.

 

B. Creutzfeldt (ed.) 2012. China en América Latina: Reflexiones sobre las Relaciones Transpacíficas. Bogota: Universidad Externado.