We created a cluster map of the five main discursive groupings of legislators who voted against the project (Fig. 2), as well as those who voted in favor of it (Fig. 3). The order 1 to 5 in the figures represent the ranking of importance of each topic in the speeches. We then proceeded to their interpretation in light of the content of the speeches. We interpreted the discourse ‘groupings’ for each box, using discourse analysis and exemplifying with textual quotes, translated from Spanish.
It becomes immediately apparent from Fig. 2 that the United States, financial dependence, and the intrusiveness as well as potential dual-use nature of the Chinese space-monitoring played an important part in the discourse advanced by those voting against the project. Words of particular significance in Fig. 2 (by importance of associated topic category and frequency of occurrence) are: Latin America, United States, deficit, million, dollars, ten, trade, military goals, deep space, army, Neuquén, control, base, hectares, commission, Chinese, construction, first, world power and relations.
The central discursive grouping, formed by the words in box 1, can be summarized by the theme ‘asymmetry of power.’ Oscar Aguad (UCR), who is deputy of the province of Cordoba, argued in relation to these asymmetries:
“[Kirchner’s] government rejected, perhaps with good reason, the agreement they wanted to do with the United States, the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas […] What they said then was: ‘we cannot associate with the US because that will consolidate a primary goods production matrix in Argentina.’ Nevertheless, today we are doing the same with China.”
This quote confirms the mirroring with the United States suggested by the first hypothesis. There is a clear mention of Kirchner’s government being anti-American, providing some initial confirmation of hypothesis 3, and there is a comparison between the US and China. It is argued that the patterns of asymmetry existing between Argentina and the US—which are rooted in the commodity specialization of the Argentine economy—also apply to relations with China.
Pablo Javkin (Coalición Cívica, province of Santa Fe) cited Brazil as an example to be followed when handling power asymmetries with China. Previous empirical work found that Brazil’s image has in the past been used as an inverted mirror in Argentinean domestic debates, where Brazil is portrayed as a rising power and Argentina as a country in decline [32]. Pablo Javkin argued: “Discussing the center-periphery logic means setting a strategy. Brazil did it. Let’s do it as well.” Furthermore, Deputy Miguel Giubergia (UCR, province of Jujuy) pointed out that “Brazil refused to grant benefits to China the same way Argentina is doing”. We observe in both Javkin and Giubergia the use of Brazil as a mirror that should inspire Argentina. Both statements assume a center-periphery logic, as suggested by hypothesis 2.
The second discursive grouping among opposition legislators (box 2 in Fig. 2) captures fear over China’s future military might. Laura Esper (Frente Renovador, province of Buenos Aires) argued: “It is a concern that CLTC […] reports directly to the Department of Arms and the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Army […]. So this gives, without a doubt, a strong military mark to this installation.” Concerns over China controlling the space-monitoring station for military purposes are fueled further by suspicions about strong connections between China’s economic players and the military.
Christian Gribaudo (Union PRO, province of Buenos Aires) stated:
“As for geostrategic and military issues, I have no certainties. It would have been enough to simply add a clause […] establishing a ban on military uses, but this was not done. Does anyone know whether in 2050, 2065, or even after that, the function of this agreement will not have a geostrategic and military use to China in our country?”
We observe in Gribaudo’s speech a mention to the uncertainties – especially geopolitical ones – inherent to long-term relations with China, reflecting the tacit idea that China will certainly change the world order in the years to come.
From box 3 we interpreted a discursive grouping addressing the issue of Argentina’s geopolitical positioning vis-à-vis former, existing and emerging world powers. Deputy Fabián Rogel (UCR, province of Entre Rios) signaled that:
“The agreements we are now considering arrive late for a government that is ending soon and it should have drawn up a strategic policy plan no less than two years ago. No one can bear the thought that, after twelve years in office, [the government] has finally achieved the replacement of both the old European model [of dependence] and that of domination by the United States with a new model of domination, that of an empire looming at least over Asia if not over Latin America: China”.
Rogel is critical of Peronism by claiming that the country was replacing one regional hegemon with another, due to the incumbent government lacking any long-term strategy towards China. As previously, we observe here a strong government-opposition division and references to the US as well as a center-periphery logic.
Claudio Lozano (Unidad Popular, province of Buenos Aires) argued in this regard:
“[I]n the southern region of our country, there is a military base on the Malvinas Islands [that is controlled by Great Britain]. We also know that Patagonia is a territory to populate and that China is a country with a large population density. Knowing the importance of the southern region in terms of mineral resources, oil and gas, and fish, as well as in terms of its fresh water, it would be extremely prudent […] to think a little deeper and less hastily about this agreement, especially when the government has committed for fifty years”.
Lozano brings up colonialism from Britain as an example of what could end up occurring with China. There is the concern that, in the long term, China will take advantage of the center-periphery power imbalance that have historically marked Argentina’s foreign relations, to exploit natural resources and land in Argentina.
The geopolitical concerns also include the discrepancy between US action towards China and Argentinean accommodation of China by allowing the construction of the space-monitoring station. Gilberto Alegre (Frente Renovador, province of Buenos Aires) argued: “The US is moving its entire fleet to the Pacific because of its conflict with China, and we will give up territory and sovereignty to the Chinese”. This phrase implicitly suggests that Argentina might have to align with the US, as having good relations with both countries may be geopolitically implausible.
The lower-left cluster, in box 4, encompasses the arguments for the domestic impact of the agreement. There were concerns about the agreement giving permission to the Chinese government to build through direct awards (that is, by avoiding domestic laws for public bidding). For instance, Patricia Bullrich (Unión PRO, province of Buenos Aires) said: “[…] it is possible that these constructions will be made without any kind of bidding, without following basic rules of transparency, which would be necessary for the public works not to be a matter of discretion and subject to corruption.”
Following a strong government-opposition division, the opposition claimed the lack of transparency in granting awards would allow Kirchner’s government to make discrete recommendations to Chinese companies that have links to Kirchner’s party.Footnote 10 Araceli Rossi (Unión por Cordoba, province of Cordoba) stated that “there is no guarantee that the lowest price will be paid, much less can we guarantee the quality of input used for the completion of works.” In the same line, Elisa Carrio (ARI, province of City of Buenos Aires) argued: “As this agreement allows direct awards, it violates Article 27 of the National Constitution, which states: ‘The federal government is obliged to strengthen its relations of peace and commerce with foreign powers through treaties that are in accordance with the principles of public law established in this Constitution.’” This line of discourse also means to call attention to the fact that the two dams to be built in the province of Santa Cruz (where Kirchner hails from) were financed by China, and the contracts were awarded to companies owned by people with close ties to Kirchner’s party: “friends of the power.”
One of the most notorious alleged cases of corruption in Argentina during Cristina Kirchner’s presidency involves the conglomerate owned by Mr. Lazaro Baez, a businessman related to the Kirchner family. His name was mentioned four times during the speeches of those legislators who opposed the space-monitoring station agreement, as part of an attempt to accuse the government of corruption in the bidding process.
Finally, the lower-right cluster of the figure shows a group of words criticizing economic relations with China that are based on the export of primary goods, which reflects concerns of an unbalanced relationship. Representative Araceli Rossi (Unión por Cordoba, province of Cordoba) argued that “Argentina continues to sign agreements with China. The deficit in the trade balance has reached billions of dollars and is still growing. That is, some [the Chinese] get a lot and some [we] get very little.” Claudio Lozano (Unidad Popular, province of Buenos Aires) said that “96 percent of what we sell to China is of primary production, of which 85 percent is soybean, soybean oil, and crude oil, and what we receive from China are manufactured goods.” These imbalances present in Argentine-Chinese trade were extended to the issue of economic asymmetries in the space-monitoring station agreement. Mario Negri (Unión por Cordoba, province of Cordoba) said: “The work is done with Chinese capital, Chinese companies, Chinese technology and Chinese labor. And that obviously creates an imbalance”.
Having analyzed the discourses employed by those criticizing the Chinese space-monitoring station, we now turn to analyzing the speeches by legislators who supported the project, following the same strategy as before. An initial examination of the word groupings in Fig. 3 presents a strong difference to those found in Fig. 2. While the words shown in Fig. 2 appear to emphasize issues of dependence, power, hegemony and a China threat, the words in Fig. 3 more reflect a discourse about collaboration, opportunities, economic gain, the technicalities of the project and praise of the current government. Words of particular significance in Fig. 3 are: Space, Brazil, exchange, bilateral, strategic relationship, dollars, million, commercial, workers, infrastructure, European Agency, CONAE, exploration, Neuquén, possibility, scientific, activities, Kirchner, Nestor, momentum.
The main argument (see box 1) again concerns the bilateral economic relationship with China, but in this case the discourse highlights the gains that Argentina experiences from a deep relationship with China. For example, Deputy Roberto Feletti (Frente Para la Victoria, province of Buenos Aires) defended the deal because of China’s economic strengths compared to those of Brazil, the EU, and the US: “The truth is that when looking at the international integration with China, the European Union, Brazil and the US, one will realize that the only dynamic country which grew strongly in these years was China, overcoming the 2008/2009 crisis. Not so wrong to choose a bilateral agreement with China.” This argumentation highlights China’s short-term role as the “belle of the ball.” Furthermore, China is presented as an alternative to Argentina’s excessive dependence on Brazil, whose government is said to have forgotten about Argentina:
“Among the four countries with which we have major amounts of trade, China is the one which has grown the most. Therefore, it is logical that at this stage we have a privileged bilateral relationship with that nation. On Brazil, during the third Workers Party government headed by Dilma Rousseff, its foreign policy changed, privileging the relationship with the BRICS to the detriment of Mercosur and UNASUR.”
The upper-left corner cluster reveals a discursive grouping that explores the difference in scrutiny between the Chinese and European space-monitoring stations. The speeches of legislators who supported the agreement contained several mentions of the ESA station insisting on the fact that both projects were similar in nature. For example, Deputy Martin Rodrigo Gill (Frente Para la Victoria, province of Córdoba) argued that “there is a degree of prejudice and paranoia about the location of this station in our country. The space-monitoring station in Neuquen has no different characteristics to that opperating in Malargüe […], which was the result of another agreement with the European Space Agency.” Deputy Alicia Comelli (Neuquén’s Popular Movement, province of Neuquén) pointed to the fears of power asymmetries with China as suggested by hypothesis 2:
“[I]f the entire argument [against the project] is going to be about the fear of asymmetries, it should be clarified that there were no such fears against other, worse, asymmetries, as when there was the installation of Malargüe with the European Space Agency in partnership with NASA, which is basically British.”
Asymmetries also played a central role in political discourses favoring the project, including latent references to American hegemony. Yet the argument was that no difference should exist between asymmetries with China and previous regional hegemons.
The upper-right cluster of discursive groupings echoes the idea that Argentine-Chinese relations were evolving into a ‘comprehensive strategic relationship’ between the two countries and for that reason, the agreement needs to be understood as a big step in the political approximation between both countries. For example, Carlos Heller (Frente Nuevo Encuentro, province of Buenos Aires) made the point that signing agreements with China was part of a broad political alliance:
“[I]t has been ten years that [a strategic partnership] has been built, and now the steps are being taken to turn this strategic relationship into a comprehensive strategic relationship. What does this mean? It refers to something that goes beyond commercial, technological, scientific bonds and extends towards political positions, sharing positions in international organizations.”
Sharing common political positions in international organizations is one of the last stages in the process of bringing two countries closer together, and Heller celebrates that Argentina is heading in that direction with China. Implicit in this may be a reduced concern over China’s future military might.
Paired with the idea of strengthening bilateral relations, there were mentions of and praises for former president Nestor Kirchner’s initiative of kicking off a strategic relationship with China back in 2004. Some legislators argued that voting in favor of this agreement was a matter of being coherent with Kirchner’s foreign policy of alignment with China. This conforms to hypothesis 3.
The lower-left cluster represents a discursive grouping that can be summarized as “China is the best alternative, Brazil forgot us, and the US and EU are the ‘old world’ we no longer want to belong to.” Peronist legislators in particular hold a positive view of closer ties with China, which is seen as an alternative to the neoliberal policies advanced by the US in the region. For instance, deputy Adriana Puiggros (Frente Para la Victoria, province of Buenos Aires) argued that.
“[The opposition] shouts fears against possible Chinese imperialism or against an invasion, and they even argue that an antenna has been installed for military purposes, when in fact it has a dimension of 35 meters in diameter and 45 meters in height […]; it is impossible to have a military purpose. So in fact Chinese imperialism becomes a smokescreen aimed at defending the Western neoliberalist hegemony of the United States.”
This combines with arguments explaining why China should be a preferred country to partner with. Deputy Julia Perié (Frente para la Victoria, province of Misiones) argued that China is different from other powerful nations in that it is an “emerging” one, and Kirchner supported the foreign policy of strengthening South-South relations, “which led us to that historic moment when we said ‘no’ to the FTAA and ‘yes’ to the consolidation of other regional blocs: Mercosur, UNASUR, and CELAC.” In this view, strengthening ties with China is framed within the foreign policy of South-South relations.
Finally, the lower-right cluster offers a discursive grouping addressing the positive impact of China’s FDI in Argentina. Alfredo Dato (Frente Para la Victoria, province of Tucuman) mentioned:
“I think there’s an issue we must clarify and not get caught up in the clauses. We must clarify what a satisfactory role of foreign capital is in the national economy, i.e., if it contributes to the development of domestic productive forces or plays a role of despoiler of these forces […], intended to widen the pockets of the owners of foreign capital. […] [W]ith this agreement, will Argentina be a better nation? Is this agreement confined only to a financing process or also a process of economic and technological progress? Clearly, the possibility to access technology available today in China represents a quantum leap forward for our national economy.”
Dato exposes the argument that not all FDI may be beneficial for Argentina, but that Chinese FDI will have a positive impact.
This argument may dovetail with a critical view on domestic businesspeople and agribusiness producers who are considered to be aligned with the US. As Deputy Oscar Martinez (Movimiento Solidario Popular, province of Santa Cruz) stated:
“A project with China will not come to meet the great needs facing the country and all the people in science and technology, but neither will the petty politics of businessmen, industrialists, and members of the Rural Society who only focus on how best to do business at the expense of the people”.
This exposes a “we-against-them” dichotomy that is much stronger among Peronist legislators. “We” is used to refer to those interested in protecting national interests and economic development, while “them” refers to agribusiness, neoliberals, speculators, and those who are pro-American.